


Starlight

by Light_and_Smoke



Series: Full of Light [1]
Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-13
Updated: 2012-09-16
Packaged: 2018-03-03 15:36:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 39,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2856113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Light_and_Smoke/pseuds/Light_and_Smoke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Klaus and Caroline from 3x11 onwards, following the storyline, with additional scenes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Happy Birthday Caroline - Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this was first posted on FFnet in 2012, so rather than changing and editing it all as I'd love to do (slight perfectionist tendencies, I think we all have them), I'm going to stay true to how it was first published and - aside from taking out the notes I left at the bottom - leave it alone.
> 
> So, enjoy?

Caroline ran her hands through her hair with a sigh, trying to keep the straightened locks from being messed by the wind. She supposed she could just climb down from her perch in the tree and head inside instead, but she didn't quite feel ready for normalcy. She ran her fingers over the old boards that served as the tree house that she, Elena and Bonnie used to play in, seeking the place they had carved their names over a decade ago. The wobbly initials were already becoming worn with age, and she frowned. Everything passed by with time. But she wouldn't anymore. She'd be forever stuck in the filler year. She'd never be of a legal drinking age, never really be ready for college, never grow up and have kids and a career and a loving husband. She'd be stuck forever.

Caroline lay back, watching the light filter through the leaves. At least she could survive the sunlight. But even then it felt different to when she was human. She toyed with her daylight ring, pondering. She could take it off, just for a moment, just to fully feel the sun on her skin before it burned her tainted vampire body. Her fingers ran over the edges of the lapis lazuli ring, and in a moment of spontaneity she slipped the ring off.

One blissful microsecond of warm sunlight on her skin…

And then the burning began. She could feel the blistering heat of it all, feel her skin charring and smoke rising off her. She bit back screams, not wanting to alert anyone to her presence. She looked down to her ring, and in a brief second of deliriousness, wondered whether she should put it back on her finger. For she could still feel the warmth and energy of the sun, and she hadn't felt alive in so long, she missed being human and vulnerable purely because it meant that she was alive. So should she stay in the sunlight, in pain but alive? Her skin was smarting at this point, and she couldn't hold back the groan of agony that escaped from her lips.

The ring slid back on her finger as her self preservation kicked in, and she panted. Caroline looked wistfully up to the sun through the trees. She felt cold again. She felt dead. She held back tears, not wanting to seem weak even to herself, and sat upright as she heard a noise. Someone was nearby.

"Hello?" She called, sitting up to look down at the grassy area underneath the tree.

A brush of air told her that someone had moved with supernatural speed to the branches above her. She glanced upwards and bit back a yelp of surprise.

"Little one," Klaus greeted from his perch on the oak branch a few feet away from the tree house floor boards. His face was utterly unreadable to Caroline, which frightened her further. She knew exactly what this man was capable of, and yet she had never experience it first hand. She was petrified, recalling everything he had done to her friends and what she had seen him do to Tyler.

"Klaus," She said warily, not showing how he scared her. If he didn't know how he affected her, he'd think that she was strong and hopefully leave her alone. And she was strong. She'd endured enough already, she could easily take on him.

He remained where he was, clearly comfortable and not planning on leaving soon. She knew how his emotions switched quickly, however, and tensed herself, ready to run. Screw not showing any fear, self-preservation was not fear.

"Relax, love," He said, making her jump at his insight and the unfamiliar pet name. "I'm not going to kill you here."

"Why?" She asked bluntly, and he laughed unexpectantly.

"In my book, I work by vengeance. You wrong me, I wrong you. You've just got to wrong me first." He watched her as she continued to eye him carefully. He couldn't blame her suspicion, he had already put the wheels in motion for her to come to harm for what her friends had done, but he felt the need to prove himself to this baby vampire for some reason, even if it was to show her that his actions didn't make him a monster before her life ended. "I'm not that low."

Caroline refused to flinch at the harsh ways his mind worked. She was stronger than that. And they did made sense to her, in the most bizarre way.

"Then why come here, if you're not going to kill me?"

He looked over to catch her eye properly for the first time, and she felt his gaze pierce right through her.

"I was out hunting and couldn't help but notice a pretty vampire burning herself in the sun."

She bit her lip, embarrassed that he'd caught her doing something so completely reckless and irrational.

"I did wonder why you'd do such a thing, since you have a daylight ring and you know that while you are immortal, you aren't invincible." He continued.

She didn't need to explain herself to him, but she did anyway, without thought.

"It's the pull of the sun. The light. You know how it makes you feel so alive?" She envied his hybrid ways in that sense; he needed no ring to walk in the daylight. He could feel the sun as she used to. "You probably haven't felt anywhere near alive for centuries anyway." She stabbed. He was a hollow being as far as she was concerned.

Klaus smirked. "I'm not that much of a monster, little one."

The odd pet name irritated her, and mixed with the envy she was already feeling against him. "No? Could've fooled a lot of us."

Oddly, Klaus ignored the comment that usually would've fired his anger. "It felt like something else when I woke up in the sun for the first time in a thousand years with no ring. The burning feeling was gone. There was only warmth, like my skin was humming."

Caroline's envy got the better of her, and she slid the ring off her finger again to feel that same feeling he talked about. She gritted her teeth to the burning that followed, only it didn't last long. The pain stopped, and she realized that Klaus was next to her, his fingers around the ring that was back on her hand. She looked up at him with a complete sense of loss and vulnerability in her eyes, before she snapped at him, her own personal fire.

"What the hell was that for? You're the sadistic monster, why don't you just let me burn if I feel like it?"

Klaus was shocked by her outburst that reminded him of a werewolf overreaction, and reminded himself that she was young and still in emotional transition. Truth be told, he had no idea why he had stopped her. He presumed it was a reaction to his plans changing. If she hurt herself, even killed herself, by burning, he couldn't get revenge at Stefan through her. But there was another part to it. Seeing her hurt herself like that, for one second of bliss; he knew what that felt like.

And she deserved more.

The caring thought had come from nowhere, and he sent it far back in his mind.

We do not care.

Klaus distracted himself by returning to the present, while she waited for an answer.

"There are much brighter things for you in the future." He replied cryptically, thought he could see it in her eyes that she still had the world to discover. He felt an unfamiliar twinge of regret that he had practically signed her death certificate only hours previously, and that despite his words she would not have bright things in her future, she would not discover the world, her bright future was to serve as another pawn in his game with the Salvatore's and Elena. From his knowledge of her, from what he had seen in his time in Alaric's body, she always served as the pawn in the game, her needs second to her friends. She did deserve more.

He sent the foreign human feelings somewhere else. His needs were greater than hers. His needs were greater than any of them. Nevertheless, if she was going to die, he may as well give her a blessing.

"Love, you've not taken off your ring at night outside, have you?"

She eyed him, confused and curious.

"The stars. The stars give the same feeling. They don't burn like the sun. They are made of the same light and energy, only a million miles away. The energy thrums on your skin at night when the daylight ring isn't protecting you from the weakened light. The stars…they sing to us, Caroline. They sing on our skin."

It was the first time he had said her name, and he admired the way it sounded on his lips, the sweet taste it brought to his mouth. Caroline. Caroline.

Caroline closed her eyes, picturing it all. Then she remembered who she was talking to and opened them to find him looking at her with his most unreadable look on his face. Rather than scare her away like before, it drew her in, making her notice everything. How his face was softer than the harsh lines it became in a confrontation, and the sweetness of his poetic words, and just how stormy blue his eyes were.

He quirked a brow, and she realized it was her turn to say something.

"I'll keep that in mind." She replied lamely, cursing herself for taking the time to get lost in his eyes but not coming up with a witty retort.

He had drawn closer to her to make her put the ring back on, and she noticed his body heat burning her from the few inches between them. His gaze made her feel like she was being x-rayed, and she drew her knees up to her chest, wanting distance between them.

"Don't you have some hybrids to boss around or some other vampires to torture?"

He smirked, and broke his gaze to look at the boards they were sitting on, easily spying the place she had carved her initials when she was seven.

"As a matter of fact, I don't, but I know an invitation to leave when I hear one. I'll leave you to reminisce about the good days when you were still mortal." He caught her eye quickly to flash his trademark smirk. "Just know that even though you can't feel the sun, it doesn't mean you no longer have any light. You're not a little girl anymore, Caroline. You're a creature of the light."

And then he wasn't there anymore, gone too fast for her to catch, and she let herself sink into the jelly-like feeling that his admittedly sexy smirk and words had brought her. For a killer, he sure knew how to make her feel special for a moment.

Happy Birthday, Caroline.


	2. Happy Birthday Caroline - Part 2

Caroline was hallucinating. She could hear them at the door. The Big Bad himself had come to call, wanting to save her. In her delusion, she thought of him as the Big Bad Wolf from all those years ago when her dad had read her bedtime stories.

Only Caroline was the one stuck in the house in the woods, stuck in bed. And Tyler was the bad one here, he had bitten her. Matt said it was Klaus' fault, but she had to feel like Tyler did play a part in it as well. A sire bond was a sire bond, not compulsion. If he had been religious and the higher being that he prayed to had asked him to bite her, it would have been the same. You could say no, if you were strong enough, if you felt strongly against it, right? So why had he done it so easily? After all those words…

Caroline opened her eyes as Klaus walked in to stand at her door, and she was reminded of the Big Wolf again.

"Are you going to kill me?" She asked in a small voice. Just because he hadn't this morning didn't mean he never would.

Klaus scoffed. "On your birthday? Do you really think that low of me?"

He had a problem with how she thought of him, clearly. It was the second time he'd mentioned it today. Weak as she was, she couldn't help but still feel angry with him for his actions putting her there, and she decided to hit him where it hurt.

"Yes." She frowned.

Klaus looked darkly at her, and drew a few steps closer to the bed. It was the same look from before, and she didn't feel frightened, she was drawn in again. He lifted up a hand to draw back the blanket covering her wound, and she panted slightly, her elevated heartbeat pushing the werewolf toxins further into her body painfully.

Klaus couldn't help but let out a breath at the sight. "Oh, it looks bad. My apologies, you're what's known as collateral damage, its nothing personal."

Caroline looked up at him with doubt and pain in her eyes. Bullshit.

Klaus met her gaze and looked away, filled with a wave of some new emotion. Shame? He glanced at the girlish bracelet on her wrist and flicked a charm gently, looking at the cards adorning the bedside table.

"I love birthdays." He admitted softly.

"Yeah, are you like…a billion, or something?" Caroline jabbed at him, jealous of all his time. She had just started this life and he had so many years, so much more time than she. So much more of the world.

Klaus seemed amused. "You have to adjust your perception of time when you become a vampire, Caroline. Celebrate the fact that you are no longer bound by trivial human conventions. You're free." He said, forgetting her situation in the attempt to convince her of her new life being the better one.

"No. I'm dying." She looked up at him imploringly, and it drew him closer to her. He sat on the bed, wondering how to tell her what he wished to say. How should he phrase such an odd thing?

"I could let you die, if that's what you want." He said, recalling their discussion as she had tried to feel the sun. "If you really believe that your existence has no meaning. I've thought about it myself, once or twice over the centuries, truth be told." He smiled slightly, hoping she would ignore his personal slip as he leaned in closer to murmur to her. "But I'll let you in on a little secret. There's a whole world out there, waiting for you. Great cities, and art, and music." He touched her bracelet again, knowing that it was time for her to let go, to see the world and put away childish things. "Genuine beauty." He said, looking at her with her imperfection and knowing that she was more of a genuine beauty than all of the priceless art and wonders that he had seen. "And you can have all of it. You can have a thousand more birthdays. All you have to do," His eyes caught hers. "is ask."

Caroline was entranced by his speech, and realized that he had come not to save her, but to ask to save her, for her acceptance. She sucked in a breath, blinking furiously, not wanting to cry or be weak.

"I don't wanna die." She admitted, too proud to ask.

Klaus read her correctly, and pulled up his sleeve. His hand curled around her neck and he lifted her up into his arms, causing her to gasp. She was almost pressed to his chest, could hear his heartbeat. He was more human than she had thought.

"There you go, sweetheart. Have at it." He encouraged, offering her his wrist. She was shocked by the intimacy of it all. He was giving her his blood, but he was also making himself vulnerable. Caroline would be the one to wound him, but he offered himself to her. She couldn't help but wonder what his true intentions were.

Nevertheless, she bit him, the vampire side of her reveling in the taste of his blood, much more potent than she had imagined. He breathed out at the foreign feeling, his warm breath ghosting along the top of her head.

"Happy Birthday, Caroline." He murmured against her brow, and it was so sweet that she didn't know what to think.

She released his wrist, squeezing her eyes shut.

A moment passed, a moment in which Klaus suddenly felt so vulnerable that he couldn't bear the silence in which she was paused so still.

"Caroline," He murmured, and she let her red eyes open to meet his blue ones. His breath caught at the sight. He had been foolish, still not fully believing she really was a vampire, a monster similar to him, and she really wasn't still. For the darker side to her wasn't dark at all. She glowed in the lightest possible way.

Klaus gently lay her back down on the bed, and she let out a sigh, wiping her mouth where his blood had lingered.

He looked at her wound. It was healing already. He knew it would work, but he was still grateful, still oddly relieved. He didn't like caring that much about a girl he barely knew. He didn't even know why he had come to save her like a prince in a fairytale. He was the villain, the monster in the dark, the thing that stalked through the night, and he was perfectly happy in that role. But her light drew him closer to her, and seeing it today gave him a very real sense of what would happen if it was extinguished. And that would be a waste. And he could feel comfortable with the idea that his actions were due to saving something that would be useful to him, rather than someone who was becoming a fixture in his mind.

They looked at each other again, and were at a loss for what to say next. Klaus never was one to linger in any scenario, and he stood, breaking away from her now summer blue gaze.

He turned to go and felt something catch his fingers slightly. He looked back and realized that she had reached out to grab his hand, but had drawn back. They stared at each other, a moment in which Caroline drew breath to say something and let it out again. He was about to just let it all slide and leave when she breathed in again.

"Thank you." She said in a soft, quiet voice, and he noticed how it took her effort to say it.

He said nothing in response, merely looking at her with a small smile tugging at his lips before he turned and left.


	3. The Mikaelson's Ball - Part 1

Caroline didn't like showing up in his gift dress with his gift bracelet, but she couldn't help it. She didn't have much to choose from. But then again, she also didn't like showing up dateless, and she hadn't had any choice there. Tyler was someone she felt for so strongly, but in all truth he had been the one to bring her dad to Mystic Falls, the most supernaturally dangerous place on Earth. He had been the one to attack her dad and get him into the hospital where…where everything had happened. And he had just taken off after, no goodbyes, no consoling. She was beyond fed up. Much as she cared, he had done wrong here.

Caroline breathed, letting the feeling of the party wash over her as she left her wrap by the door. She walked across the marble floor, appreciating the sway of the dress that just seemed to fit her perfectly. Klaus had a seriously freaky Cinderella fetish here, but she did feel a little flattered. The blue brought out the depths of that colour in her eyes, which scanned the crowd, looking for a friend, for any face she recognised enough to talk to.

Like it had been planned by a romantic film director, the crowd parted, and she saw Klaus. He had been talking to some woman, and she was laughing flirtatiously at something he had said, but he only had eyes for her. His gaze burned her from across the room. She found herself drawn towards him, and he left his conversation without a glance or a word just to greet Caroline.

As she came closer, her stomach tightened. His gaze was happy, desirous…hungry. He made her feel wanted.

"Good evening," Klaus said warmly, light dancing in his eyes.

It made her feel so utterly confused, he was so different to the accounts she had heard only days and hours before about how vicious he was.

"I need a drink." She said, breaking away and heading for the bar. Caroline could feel his gaze burning on the nape of her neck. She had meant to tell him off for treating her like a girl to be bought rather than earned, but she had been distracted. That stupid ability that all men had where they looked drop dead fantastic in a tux…particularly the undead ones. She vowed to tell him off later, and she stormed off to find someone, anyone, to take her mind off everything for a while.

Caroline didn't even get the chance to find a drink or some company before the elder Salvatore gripped her.

"I need to talk to you."

She rolled her eyes, shoving his hand away, preferring to walk with him rather than be pulled. "Don't you need to get back to 'protecting Elena' and whatnot?" She thought that both of the brothers were being utterly infuriating, but when it came down to it she was on Stefan's side in the fight for Elena's heart, and Damon's caveman behavior was not doing him any favors in her book.

He gave her a withering glance before pulling her out to the empty corridor.

"I've heard you have a new admirer. A certain Big Bad who invited you here." "Not my fault that he's my new stalker." Caroline snipped. She didn't need another lecture on how evil Klaus was. She was well aware of it all.

"Good."

"What?"

"Good."

Caroline looked at him incredulously.

"New plan. Go talk to Klaus. See if he's…willing to let anything slip." Damon's words were fairly plain, but they both knew that she was being sent in as a spy.

"You're kidding, right?" Caroline searched Damon's face for any sign of humor aside from his usual sarcasm and ill-tempered wit. She found his annoying serious look instead.

"Sorry, Blondie, but if we're going to protect Elena, it means getting rid of any threats. And right now, the biggest threat is in the form of our charming hybrid host. And if our way of finding information is by using the precious few links we have, then we'll definitely be exploiting them." He smiled maliciously at her. "Aren't you glad he's chosen to pick on you this time."

Caroline glared at him. "Bite me."

"Been there, done that, got bored." Damon drawled at her and, with one last flash of his wide eyes at her, rejoined the party.

Caroline growled under her breath. She was being thrown in the path of Klaus like a rabbit under the wheels of a truck on a highway, and she didn't like it one bit. Shrugging off the growing negative feelings, Caroline turned the corner to enter the ballroom again. She seriously needed that drink.

After Elijah's encouragement speech to find a partner and waltz, people moved towards the ballroom in Noah's Arc-like couples. Caroline downed her drink with a solitary feeling in her chest. If Tyler were here…but even if he had been, she probably would have already had a confrontation and would be avoiding him right about now. She looked wistfully towards the ballroom. She had all that training from the Miss Mystic Falls competition, she was Miss Mystic Falls, it was just embarrassing to have no man to dance with.

She surveyed her options. Matt was already in the clutches of Rebekah, and seemed happy about it. She needed to talk to him about that, and soon. Damon had already dibbsed Elena, so there was no hope there. But that meant the younger Salvatore brother was free.

Caroline was debating whether she could be bothered dealing with Stefan's brooding mood and ask him to dance when the Big Bad handsome hybrid stepped in front of her. She blinked against her title for him in her head. Clearly the champagne was hitting her already.

"Miss Forbes, I do believe I asked if you would save me a dance. May I have the pleasure?" He made it all sound so sexy in his accent, and she suppressed a shiver. She would have turned him down, but she remembered Damon's plan. Besides, if she turned him down, then she would be alone. Plus that bitch from earlier would be all over him. She thought snidely before banishing the thought from her brain. Where had that come from?

Caroline took his offered hand and rolled her eyes characteristically.

"If you must."

He ignored her words, smiling like the cat that got the cream, and escorted her to the ballroom.

Caroline could feel Klaus' eyes on her the whole while as they walked to take their places in line for the waltz. She distracted herself by trying to find Matt and Rebekah to stand near them, but Klaus refused to let her wander off his path and led her to a particular spot. She huffed, and he chuckled, and she grumbled once she realized that he had put them in a spot where when the room shifted a partner, she would end up with Matt, who was right next to them, as she had failed to notice.

"Mind-reader." She said under her breath, and he smiled.

"Thought you'd like that best, love. Just so you wouldn't have to deal with me the whole time."

They began to step, and she shot one last wish at him.

"Just no words till the end of the dance, okay?"

He bit down gently on his own lips to signify his acceptance, and she couldn't help but stare. He glanced over to her and she finally looked away, refusing to meet his gaze.

They stepped across the room and he continued to look at her rather than the rest of the room. When they arrived right before the spin, she looked over to meet his gaze, and was shocked at how soft it was. He spun her into his arms, and she kept her eyes on his, speaking without words.

She glanced away, deciding to watch over Matt and Rebekah instead, but his staring didn't cease.

"Alright, we'll talk, just stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like I'm the only woman in the room."

He smiled. "You are."

She flustered and looked away from his intense gaze.

"I'm glad you came."

"Well, it was either caviar or sympathy casseroles." She said with an eye roll, trying to brush off the ache in her chest that her father's absence brought.

"I heard about your father." He stated, wanting to console her but not knowing how.

"Don't. Seriously." She said bluntly, looking straight at him for a beat. She didn't want sympathy. Not from him.

He understood. "Very well." He accepted. "Onto more mannered subjects then like how ravishing you look in that dress." He smirked, and her mind went into overload. His sexy smile only inches away. His gentlemanly hand on the middle of her back, only with two calloused fingers touching her skin in the most electrifying touch. His accent rolling around the 'r'. That hungry look in his eyes.

"I didn't really have time to shop." She said, tearing her eyes away from his.

"And the bracelet I gave you, what's your excuse for wearing that?" He continued, knowing he was trapping her.

She rewarded him with her expression, and he made a mental note to verbally trap her like that more. Her face was so pleasing when surprised and lost for words. But he'd save her today.

"You know, you're quite the dancer."

"Well, I've had training. I happen to be Miss Mystic Falls." She said, wanting to show him her accomplishments, her small town talents. But then she remembered who he was and how much he knew of the world, and felt foolish.

"I know." He smiled at her, and it was so unlike him that she was able to forget herself for a moment and smile back at him.

He let go of her to hold both hands before twirling her to his right, towards Matt. She stayed in that unusual state, smiling for a moment before remembering herself.

"What are you doing? Why are you here with the She-Devil?"

Matt, sweet Matt, was far too polite for his own good.

"What was I supposed to say, no? And why the hell are you here with Klaus?"

She gritted her teeth. "Don't even get me started."

Matt raised his brows. "Well? Go on."

Caroline sighed. "He invited me, same as Rebekah did you. And gave me a dress."

"What?"

"Don't, Matt. I know you're going to go on with the whole 'Tyler's my best friend' and 'Klaus is evil', but trust me, I have those thoughts in my head. And Klaus isn't into me like that. And more importantly, I'm not into him like that."

Matt blinked. "Wow, Caroline."

She breathed, trying to come back to a normal state of mind. "Sorry."

Matt sighed, letting the frown go from his brow. "Look, Tyler…well, we're close, but he's changed. And he left you in all the mess he created. He kinda left us all. I wouldn't exactly call him my best friend right now."

Caroline glanced up at his honest face, grateful. He continued.

"As for Klaus being evil, well, we all know he is. But technically so 'is' Rebekah. And I'm…well, she's interesting. And I cant help but think that people can change. Damon's done it, and so has Stefan, though that might not be the best example." He looked down at her, watching her face. "And Care?"

She caught his eye.

"You think too much."

She laughed, beaming up at him.

"How do you always know what to say?"

He grinned. "I know you way too well. And I'm just awesome like that."

Caroline smiled, comforted by her friends humanity. Matt hadn't changed. He had grown, and he had become more of who he used to be, but he hadn't changed. He was the steadfast rock of the group. He rocked from side to side like he used to back when they were younger and dancing without a care, and she giggled again. He danced completely differently to the smooth character she had spun with before, held her like the friendly boy she had always known him to be.

Caroline glanced towards Rebekah, catching her eye before the green-gowned blonde looked away.

"You'd be good for Rebekah, Matt. She needs someone level like you. And she's fun, and pretty, and good for you too." She saw Rebekah smile slightly; she'd clearly heard her. "Even if she might not be on the right team all the time."

Matt looked unsure as to what to say, and Caroline knew she should have kept her big mouth shut for just a little longer.

"I'm not trying to push your, Matt. Its your call. That's just my opinion." Though she could be a bloodslut at times, Caroline knew she was just jealous that Rebekah was everything Caroline had been working to be her whole life. Plus Caroline was one to talk: she hadn't exactly been celibate in Mystic Falls, even before Damon.

"Yeah, well I promise I wont tell anyone how you actually had a good word for Rebekah." Matt joked, and she smiled, twirling out of his arms as the song ended. They bowed and curtseyed while keeping their eyes on each other, biting back grins.

"May I have the honor of escorting you to the bar, Mistress Forbes?" Matt said with old world manners, falling back into their friendly banter.

Caroline giggled. "I'd be delighted, Master Donovan." He took her hand and wrapped it around the crook of his elbow, and they walked to the bar, oblivious to the heated gaze of the Original siblings.

Klaus was the first to notice Rebekah's envy, and he masked his own as he went to calm her.

"Bekah, now would not be the time to make a scene."

"That blonde Barbie bitch has him in her claws." She spat, shooting a glance at her brother. "Don't act like you aren't affected either. You pestered me enough to help you find that dress for her."

Klaus clenched his jaw shut and breathed through his nose.

"Regardless, you've already attacked someone this week, sister. Make it another, and that dagger might find its way back into your heart."

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "You need to find some new threats, Nik. They're getting old and tired." She tilted her head, a sly look appearing on her face. "Perhaps I should have a little privacy with Caroline. A small, private, fatal moment, just to send a message to this town."

"Do that, and you'll find yourself in pieces at the bottom of the sea." Klaus deadpanned. "We've spent centuries in each others company, but don't think for one second that if you meddle I wont retaliate in kind."

Rebekah smiled smugly, pleased at her findings. "Charming, Nik. Nice to see that you care."

They both knew she wasn't referring to how he felt about his sister.

She sighed. "No meddling with your plans. You have my word."

Klaus was still stung by her discovery of his fierce reaction to protect Caroline, since even he hadn't predicted that he felt that strongly. He nodded briefly and sighed.

"I'll make sure to tear out that footballers intestines if he hurts you, Bekah. But since he has done nothing, and he is here tonight as your date I believe, then there should be nothing but peace here. Understood?"

"Yes, Father." She sneered at him, wanting one last jab before they parted ways.


	4. The Mikaelson's Ball - Part 2

Caroline stayed with Matt for most of the party, chatting and laughing and pretending that Mystic Falls was how they remembered it to be before the vampires moved in. Much as she didn't want to admit it, she was also trying to protect him from Rebekah. Every time she saw the blonde, she looked like she was plotting something malicious.

However, when it came down to Matt's football friends joining them and acting all macho, Caroline needed some air. She excused herself with a smile, knowing that Matt would be kept occupied with his friends and Rebekah wouldn't catch him alone. Grabbing her shawl against the chill in the air, she stepped outside and began walking, hoping that she could push away her feelings by being active somehow.

She strolled along the cars parked on the cobblestones, and let loose a small chuckle at the horse drawn carriage. Cinderella fetish indeed. This was just getting ridiculous. She wondered who the hell would have arrived in a horse-drawn carriage, but let it slide.

Caroline smiled slightly at the sight of the horse, though. She had ridden horses at a nearby school with Elena and Bonnie way back when they thought they were the next Pony Pals. It had been years since she had even seen one, let alone been this close to one. The familiarity of it all soothed her, along with the horse's solidarity and snorts of breath on the cool night air.

Caroline was contemplating if she recalled enough horse training to pat one correctly when he found her again.

"You like horses." He observed, strolling up behind her. Did he have a tracking device on her or something?

Caroline stubborn refused to look at him. "I'm not talking to you until you tell me why you invited me here." She emphasized, not mentioning the odder things like why he had given her a diamond (a freaking diamond) bracelet and an exquisite dress along with an invitation. He had given her his blood, he had given her life right when she thought it might have ended with a stupid hybrid bite.

"I fancy you." Klaus said directly, catching her off guard. He took in her face, full of disbelief, and quirked a brow. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yes." She said, wondering what his real motive was.

"Why?" He questioned, incredulous. "You're beautiful, you're…you're strong, you're full of light." She looked up at him before glancing away, and he drew back slightly, biting his tongue. He had gone too far, he couldn't let himself do that. The truth would kill him before he got a chance to realize it for himself. "I enjoy you." He finished, believing that that phrase, at least, wasn't too far.

"Well I'm spoken for. By Tyler." She snipped, and he saw she didn't want him too close. He felt some sense of accomplishment, since it meant his compliments were at least taken this time, rather than denied, and he was getting to her somehow.

"I thought you two ended things." He queried, wanting to make sure he had his facts right. He couldn't help it, he had been brought up in a more respectful time. If she was already taken, social rules told him to back off.

"Yeah, because of you and your freaky sire bond with him." She huffed, not mentioning that they had already been rocky before that. She was always the second option on Tyler's list, she had been in the past with Jules and she was still now.

"So you aren't spoken for." Klaus reiterated with a smirk, and her look told him the answer. He felt relief, but an accompanying flicker of guilt. After all, it had been due to him that they had ended things. He brushed it aside, content to continue pursing her, his prey.

"You know, horses are the opposite of people. They're loyal." He smiled a little, recalling her undying loyalty to her friends and family. She was such an exception to every rule. Loyalty certainly did not run deep with his family. "My father hunted me for a thousand years and the closest he ever came was the day he killed my favorite horse. He…he severed its neck with a sword, as a warning." Klaus came back to the present to see Caroline's sweet, concerned features and how she studied his face. Her light ignited a tiny flicker of hope in his empty chest.

"Did you ever consider…sitting down with your father and talking it out?" She asked, ignoring the fact that he was her enemy and treating him with compassion.

"My relationship with my father was a little more complex than yours." He said, before realize too late that he had unintentionally made her troubles less than his own, and after all she had just been through.

She drew back at the harsh reminder of her father, but nodded. "Maybe so. But I let my father go with no regrets." She shot, half wanting to damage, half wanting to show him some humanity. He had experienced so little humanity. This is what it means to be human, her dad had said, and she intended to live by it as much as her inhuman side would allow. "And to answer your question, yes, I like horses." She gave him the small truth, before finding a perfect cue to leave his intimidating company. "But I also like people, and they like me, so I'll be inside." She swept back to the ballroom, leaving him to contemplate in the night.

Caroline had first intended to rejoin the footballers, but the very thought of it made her cringe. She needed space more than anything, It was why she had decided to take a walk outside alone, she just needed a bit of time to think and breathe. So she retreated to the powder room, the place in which her shawl had been placed, and went to fix her hair in the many mirrors placed around the room for the evening. The two girls who had been reapplying their lip gloss left, and she was finally alone. She sighed. The night had already been wild enough. Klaus…well, she just hoped that their heart to heart outside was their last encounter for the night. If she just stuck around with Matt…Elena….even Stefan….even Damon…hell, she'd stick around with Carol Lockwood even if she continued to give her the evil eye all night for 'making' her son leave, just as long as Klaus didn't corner her again.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Barbie vampire." Rebekah's lush accented voice rang out and Caroline cursed, realizing they were all alone. She knew she should have thought that it was weird to be alone in a place where women usually came to fix their make up and gossip. That never happened. Rebekah had probably compelled girls to stay outside.

"Look, it's been a nice evening so far, so I'm just gonna go rejoin the party before we have a catfight and rip each others hair or nails or lungs out, alright?" Caroline compromised, feeling protective of her beautiful new dress and not wanting any blood on it. She stepped to leave and found Rebekah in her way.

"No, wait. I did actually want a word with you."

"If it's about Matt, then don't bother. We're just friends. And for some stupid reason, I've decided to trust you with him, cause he's somehow brought out a nicer side to you, which I thought was impossible."

Rebekah didn't know whether to be flattered or angry, but she brushed both feelings away. "Actually, its my brother."

Caroline blanched, and Rebekah noticed.

"Don't be like that, goodness."

"I'm not interested in your brother, Rebekah."

"And I'm not saying you are." She said smugly. "You're the one jumping to conclusions and denying it."

Caroline bit her lip, and it evoked an odd sense of pity from Rebekah.

"All I'm saying is that Nik has been absolutely unbearable at the best of times for way too many centuries, and now he's…slightly more bearable. And I can't help but chalk that up to your presence. So," She sighed, letting the smallest smile touch her face. "Just do us all a favor and give him a chance."

Caroline didn't answer, too stunned to respond, and Rebekah gave her a moment by fiddling with her hair in the mirror.

"And thank you for your words with Matt." She shot a truer smile her way, and Caroline noticed how she lit up as she said Matt's name.

"Why are you being so nice?" She asked, a little suspicious.

"You started it." Rebekah answered childishly, and then smirked. "Us 'blondies' have got to stick together sometimes too."

They shared a smile, before doing one last check in the mirror.

"Still doesn't mean I don't hate you." Rebekah said easily, and Caroline didn't bat an eyelash.

"Likewise, bitch." She answered.


	5. The Mikaelson's Ball - Part 3

"Champagne, please." Caroline said to the bartender.

"Make it two." A deep voice added behind her, and she froze, not needing to turn around to know it was Klaus. She kept her eyes trained on the glasses as they were filled, and as soon as one was placed in front of her, she took it with a smile.

"Thanks." She said to the bartender, before sweeping away across the marble floor. She didn't go far without a hand being placed honorably on the middle of her back.

"I heard you talked to Rebekah." Klaus said, studying her face.

Caroline glanced sideways at him as she quirked a brow and downed a third of her champagne. "Yeah?" She knew there was clearly more that he had to say, more that he wanted. She stepped slightly away from his hold. Charming though it may be, she wanted to be able to think and concentrate during at least one conversation with him this evening.

"I just want to apologize for any harm she may have caused." He deadpanned.

Caroline couldn't hold back a laugh at his seriousness. He looked at her, caught between humor and a scowl.

"What?"

"Rebekah was fine. I mean, she was Rebekah, which I guess I'll have to get used to." Her eyes widened a little as she realized she had let a future tense slip. "But she was fine. Nice, even."

Klaus looked pleased. "What did she say?"

Caroline flustered slightly, easily giving away the topic of conversation.

"Nothing that concerns you."

He chuckled. "It should concern me, since it clearly was about me, but oddly enough I'm not concerned."

"Good." Caroline managed in return. She glanced up to meet his gaze again before remembering that she should not do that anymore, and instead glanced around to the rest of the party.

"Looking for the footballer? Matt, is it?"

"Yes, his name is Matt, but no, I'm not looking for him. He's not my date, he's Rebekah's."

"And then who is your date, fair Caroline?" Klaus smirked.

She glanced wide eyed at him, thinking of possible answers along the lines of 'you gave me a dress, danced with me, invited me here in the first place, you tell me who my date is' but she went for the easier, poisonous option.

"Well it could have been Tyler, but since he's been a little indisposed…" By being too busy acting like a jerk, she added in her head.

"Still doesn't answer the question, love." Klaus said levelly, the only hint towards his feelings being the small flash of jealousy Caroline caught in his eyes.

"I'm my own woman. I don't need a date." She shrugged, feeling secure. She hoped he'd get the message and leave her alone.

Instead, Klaus eyed her appreciatively. "You've got some spunk, Miss Forbes. And it's quite tasty." He said in a dark, seductive tone that was far too inappropriate for the very public ballroom, and she couldn't hold back the blush that rose to cheeks and the rush that swept through her, even as she rolled her eyes dismissively.

She was trying to word a good come back when their attention was diverted to Esther on the stairs.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Waiters are coming around with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass."

Klaus gently took the half finished glass from Caroline and replaced it with the new, rose-colored liquid. She glanced up at him with a smile; she just couldn't help herself. He reflected it back at her, before they looked up to Esther once more.

"It provides me with no greater joy than to see my family back together as one. I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers!"

Caroline suppressed a shudder. There was something sinister about Esther…but she just let it slide and sipped at the champagne. There was something odd about that too, but she let that slide also. Klaus was glancing over his shoulder as he drank, and she glanced warily at him.

"What is it?"

He looked back to her, caught, and gave his trademark smirk. "Nothing, love. Just some unfinished business of mine."

She came back from whatever small cloud of alternate world she'd been on with a jolt. Right. He was Resident Evil in this town, of course he had unfinished business. She wondered what he would use the cover of the ball to do this time.

"Well, good. You can go finish it." She snipped, walking over to Elena and leaving him alone.

"Would you excuse us?" Caroline said to Elijah. Elena flashed her eyes warningly at Caroline, but Elijah wore a polite smile.

"Of course. We'll talk later, fair Elena." He nodded his head in a graceful, modern day bow and walked towards Klaus, who was staring after Caroline with an expression somewhere between confusion and a scowl.

"That was a bit rude." Elena commented.

Caroline turned on her. "What, me ditching Mr Evil or sending away Mr Manners? Are you on their side now?"

"No, Caroline." Elena said in an exhausted tone. "But you're one to talk. Why were you with Klaus anyway?"

Caroline scoffed. "That's beside the point."

Elena raised her eyebrows at her. "You came in his gifted dress and you've talked to him an awful lot tonight. What's going on?"

"I don't know, he's seemed less….villainy tonight." Caroline caught Elenas disbelieving stare and she put up her hands. "I know, I know. I'm delicate, what can I say. He just does this weird wide-eyed abandoned puppy look, you know the one." She broke off under Elenas disbelieving look. "Oh come on, you do know the one."

"Care…okay. Even I have to admit that Klaus has been civilized tonight. But we've got to get used to the fact that things are going to change around here." Her eyes caught Caroline's in a knowing glance. There was a plan to kill them, there always was, they just couldn't say it right now with the Mikaelsons and their vampire hearing all around them.

Caroline nodded. "You're right. You're right."

Elena sighed, glancing back towards Elijah. "No matter how terrible we feel…we've got to remember that they are worse. They've done much worse than us. They've killed so many people. And we're in the right. Right?"

Caroline couldn't help but feel like Elena was asking more for acceptance rather than agreeance. She needed convincing just as much as her. And Caroline could easily go on to Elena about hypocrisy with the Salvatore brothers, especially Damon's actions, but the truth was that Caroline needed just as much of a reminder that they were doing the right thing.

"Right. They're evil. He's evil." He's evil, evil, evil. That was Caroline's new mantra.

Elena turned back to her with a tight smile. "It'll all be fine soon, Care. And Tyler will be back soon, right?" She looked up at her friend, trying to make her happy again.

Instead, the mention of her boyfriend…ex-boyfriend?...didn't bring the say reaction as usual. But Caroline was good at faking her happiness for the time being. "Yeah. It'll be wonderful." She smiled. Elena squeezed her hand and looked at Stefan, back in the room and brooding.

"I'm going to talk to Stefan."

Caroline brightened up further. "Good. Someone needs to put a smile on the Grouch's face."

Elena shot her a look before swishing over to Stefan.

Caroline couldn't help it. Her eye immediately found Klaus, mingling as a good host should, surrounded by three giggling girls she recognised from school, underage and unaware of just how dangerous he was. Caroline rolled her eyes, pondering whether it was worth going to save them if it meant putting herself in the line of fire from the English so-called 'gentleman'.

When she turned her attention back to the scene, she was shocked. Klaus had caught sight of her, seen her across the packed room and had excused himself to come over and talk to her again. Caroline refused to acknowledge that. It was such a change for her though; to be the one a guy crossed the room for, made time for.

They kept their eyes locked as he came nearer, and he held out his hand to her again.

"I'm not dancing with you again." She insisted, before realizing that no one was dancing anymore and that she sounded like a child. She grimaced at that, and the corners of Klaus' mouth tugged upward slightly in response.

"I'm not here to request anything but the pleasure of your company, sweetheart." He raised his hand again. "I want to show you something. Please."

Caroline shifted her gaze to the three girls, who were caught between swooning and envy. She looked back towards Klaus, confused by his gaze that shone with…was that honesty? She shook her head, huffing and accepting his hand. He didn't smile, but his face certainly looked lighter as he escorted her from the room, his hand burning on her back.

Caroline moved away from him once they were out of the crowded room, putting space between them. Rather than be angry, Klaus bit back a chuckle, noting the way that she rubbed the gloved hand he had been holding before setting her shoulders back and following him at a slight distance in silence.

"So, what did you want to show me?" Caroline said, never one to endure awkwardness without speech for too long.

"One of my passions." He replied, slightly uncertain as to how she would react to the painting in front of them.

"Impressive." Caroline noted, studying the layering of blues and greens with interest before stepping back slightly, not wanting to show any positive emotions towards him. "I take it the curators of the Louvre aren't on vervain?" She looked over to him, wanting to see if her words had struck home, and was surprised to see him smile and let a slight chuckle slip past his lips. He glanced down, and she was hit by how boyish he could be. She looked forward again, not wanting to be caught studying his face.

"Yeah, well, that's their mistake." Klaus joined her banter rather than fighting it. He'd rather joke about this passion of his rather than actually open himself to her with the truth; that he had painted everything in sight in here.

"And what about these?" She brought him back with a few simple words. "Where'd you steal this from?" Caroline held out her wrist to him, and they both admired the bracelet and how the diamonds caught the light.

"Well that's a long story." He stalled, recalling the night, how he had seduced the princess in question away from her betrothed, fed from her, slept with her, and stole the memento from her bedroom before leaving. That had been a time where his hunter side was slightly subdued, but his humanity was still near non-existent. He didn't want to remind this girl, this creature of the light next to him, of the beast inside him that he was fighting to subdue around her, because she made it easier for him to be gentle. He wanted to be gentle around her. He felt…well, not human, but as human as possible.

He came back from his musings, glancing up to see her studying his face. "Rest assured that it was worn by a princess almost as beautiful as you." She was infinitely more beautiful, but he felt that he needed some sort of reaction out of her, whether it be flattery from his comment or jealousy. She surprised him – though he should really expect the unexpected from her by now, he supposed – by scoffing and glancing away. He grimaced, unseen by her, but smiled, happy to be wronged for a change. He missed the unexpected. And she delivered it every time.

Caroline was tired of his compliments. Or tired of pretending that she didn't at least appreciate his old-world compliments. He had a way with words, probably due to the fact that he was around with the dinosaurs, she scoffed. But he still had a way with words that was unparallel to any of the boys who had complimented her before. She sighed, remembering Tyler and how he had purely been about sex recently…actually, for most of his adolescent life. And as she remembered, both of their new lifestyles had merely heightened those horny feelings, so she hadn't complained one bit. Still, she couldn't recall the last compliment he had made to her in a long time. She hadn't ever really been pursued like this before.

Caroline turned her attention to the drawings littered on the table in front of her, and she realized that they were the rough sketches of an artist, not something that was simply collected and strewn carelessly around the room. She fingered a page delicately, and he watched her with curiosity.

"Did you do these?" She asked incredulously. The boyish side came out again, and she was delighted to see him slightly flustered and uncertain.

"Yeah, um…" He recovered his composure by showing off, like any man. "Actually one of my landscapes is hanging at the Hermitage, not that anyone would notice."

Caroline looked down, hiding a smile at his behavior. It was nice to know that he could be ever so slightly human and normal. It was valuable to know that. She was reminded of her task. She sobered up.

Klaus mistook it for melancholy envy. "Have you been?"

"I've…never really been anywhere."

"I'll take you." He immediately assured her.

It was far too thoughtful for him to say, and she knew that she had to get back into the character where she wasn't being fooled by his act. Because she was a big girl now, she wouldn't get swept away by a suspicious gentlemanly act.

Caroline shot him a scornful look and scoffed as well, just to drive her disdain home.

"Wherever you want." Klaus continued softly, knowing that deep down, she did want everything he could offer her. "Rome. Paris." Caroline flustered, and Klaus continued, wanting to hear her laugh.

"Tokyo?"

"Oh, wow." Caroline said, making him chuckle, pleased with the reactions he could bring out in her.

She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them quickly, knowing she had to back off and back away from him. She couldn't let herself fall for his sweet gestures and gentleman act. He was a killer. He was a killer.

And in that she found her motive to push him away.

"Must be really nice to just snap your fingers and get whatever you want."

She glanced over to him and saw that sweet smile on his face still, apologetic as he stepped closer to repair damage. She struck again.

"Is that why you collect hybrids? A little servant army to take you places, and bring you things." Caroline fed her words from the anger she still felt regardless of his actions, because he had changed Tyler's life, and she still wasn't certain it was as good as he told her. Her anger made the smile fall fast from his face, and she felt torn between the triumph of her success and the twinge of regret that her comfortable time with him had to end. But she shrugged off the feeling, knowing that she could never be comfortable with such a monster. Even if he was in sheep's clothing, the man was still a wolf.

As if he was trying to prove her musings right, his face turned cold. "You're making assumptions." He growled.

She wasn't about to be scared into submission. "Then why do you need Tyler? Stop controlling him. Give him his life back."

Klaus would give her anything if she asked, if she demanded it from him, but she had hit a sore spot and could feel his heightened hybrid emotions bubbling up to the surface. He couldn't let her seem him like this; it would push her away completely.

"You know, this has been a fun evening." He deadpanned, emotionless to drive her swiftly from the room. "But I think its time for you to leave."

To his frustration, she stayed. Stubborn as always, she couldn't let him have the final word, the final command. "I get it. Your father didn't love you, so you assume that no one else will either. And that's why you compel people, or you sire them, or you try to…" She gestured wildly to her bracelet, unclasping it and throwing it to his feet. "buy them off." She gazed searchingly into his face. "But that's not how it works." He was a closed house, no light behind his stone cold eyes. Hurt by the lack of emotion, she delivered her final blow. "You don't connect with people, because you don't even try to understand them."

She turned away, leaving him speechless.

Caroline had seen right through to him.

In a thousand years, no one outside of his family had even tried to stand up to him with that amount of naivety and raw emotion. And no one had ever seen through his actions so precisely.

Who could have guessed that the baby vampire beauty would reach to the inhumane hybrid monster?

Caroline only made it halfway across the room before Klaus was in front of her again. She collided into his chest, something that clearly neither of them expected, and she reeled slightly. His hands flew out to her arms to steady her, and she inhaled slightly at the heated touch of his calloused hands on her bare skin, the first true contact between them that night. Caroline made a very blurry memo to never wear gloves again, it was clearly too much of a barrier between his touch and hers. She pushed that thought from her mind as soon as it entered, looking up at him impatiently.

Klaus let his hands slide down her arms slowly, letting her go before speaking again. "Caroline…" He locked eyes with her, and chuckled slightly under his breath. His hybrid emotions were still running wild, but he was filled with the need to make her understand. "You are fierce, and stronger than so many. But you are infinitely breakable."

Caroline frowned, opening her moth to retaliate, but Klaus spoke before she could. "You know how easy it would be to compel you right now?"

Caroline inhaled, locking her jaw, infuriated. "I'm on vervain."

"But is it strong enough?" He was doubt in her eyes, and he couldn't help but smirk. "Would you like me to test that, sweetheart?"

Her fire was back. "Don't call me that." She growled. He had no right, he knew nothing about her, nothing about humanity and care and emotion. She moved slightly, attempting to find a good escape. He stepped with her, not dropping her gaze. "I could compel you to fancy me."

"You couldn't. You'd never be able to compel me to." She jerked her chin up, defiant, not wanting him to break through to whatever had been growing between them. She was going to subdue it with the constant fact that he was a murderous, vengeful creature with no hope of change.

Klaus still found humor in her words. "You sound like you're trying to dare me. I assure you it would be very easy to compel you."

"You are repulsive." She shot desperately at him.

The smirk faded slightly. "You wound me, darling. You don't want to test me."

"Then let me leave."

"No."

"You told me before to go. So I'm going."

"No."

They stood, almost pressed together, both far too stubborn to back away. Klaus cocked his head ever so slightly, his irises growing. "I could compel you to be my lover."

The words, with his accent and his murmur, sent a shiver down Caroline's spine. Klaus stepped closer slowly, his chest a mere inch from hers. "I could compel you to kiss me." His irises continued to dilate, and she stood stock still, afraid and anticipating the next move, torn between running and curiosity and something more. His breath ghosted over her skin as his face hovered near hers.

"I could compel you to not run and let me worship your body like you deserved." They both watched Klaus' fingers trace the air above Caroline's arm, only a hairs breadth away the whole journey. Caroline swore it was one of the most intimate touches she had ever felt, and he hadn't even touched her skin.

She let out a shaky breath as he leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"I could compel you to wind your legs around me and let me take you to bed. I could compel you to let me have you again and again tonight so you reached highs you never thought possible. I could compel you to scream my name as I gave you the most pleasure you will ever experience. I could compel you to be my lover, Caroline." He grinned, his teeth just brushing her earlobe, and his hot breath rushing around her ear in a chuckle. "But I don't have to. I don't want to force you. And you will do all that of your own accord soon enough, and that will make it all the more pleasurable." Caroline blinked, realizing that her hands had twisted into clutching the lapels of his suit. She jerked them away with a huff and, after one final glare, stepped away from Klaus' knowing smirk. This time, he let her.

"Goodnight, Miss Forbes." He returned to his former pleasantries, bowing slightly from the waist. "Its been a pleasure."

Caroline felt her legs shake a little from the word 'pleasure' on his lips again, but she found her iron strength again, and stormed off to find her ride home, chanting unpleasant thoughts about that scoundrel Niklaus Mikaelson all the while.


	6. The Mikaelson's Ball - Outro

Caroline rang Tyler's number when she got home. She needed to hear his voice, remembering the comfort it gave her.

"Hey, its Tyler, leave a message after the tone and I'll get back to you."

She sighed. Would he really get back to her? Really? His gravelly tones were comforting, felt like home. Correction, felt like her old life. She had heard that voice her whole life, it reminded her of home in Mystic Falls, a human life, comforting. She didn't want to let it go.

But the American accent just didn't sound right. She found herself yearning for a different accent. An English one.

She realized guiltily it was time for her to speak, and she sighed again.

"Tyler, its me. Look, I'm grateful for what your doing, but…" She shook her head slightly. What could she say? That she wanted him to come home so everything would be normal again and she could stop feeling so uncertain about her life?

"I miss you." The most base truth slipped out, and she realized that there was no way she could tell him what had been going on without completely enraging him. He needed to break his bonds, and she should be grateful and let him. The sooner he did, he'd be back. And that was all that mattered.

"And I really wish you were here." She added with honesty. She breathed for a second, realizing that this was the place where if he was leaving the message, he'd say 'I love you' in that easy way of his. But she just couldn't…

She told herself that it was because she hadn't said it to him yet, and the first time should be in person. The truth was she just couldn't get it past her lips, and she didn't know why.

Caroline pressed the end button and glanced up to her room, only to see something odd reflected in her mirror.

Klaus' black box, complete with that pristine white ribbon, sat innocently on her bedspread.

He couldn't take a hint, could he.

Was he still here?

Just in case he was still freakishly standing outside in the shadows like some wacko Phantom of the Opera, she scoffed.

"Seriously?" She said aloud, stomping over to the box and fussing around with it just to get the damn thing open. "Just give up already."

There was a scroll of parchment inside, and an accompanying scent that she recognised with a jolt in her stomach. Woods after a thunderstorm; clean, earthy, spicy. Klaus.

How did she know him just by scent?

She shook her head, unrolling the parchment, expecting it to be a ruse, either a blank piece wrapped around the bracelet, or the more vengeful option where vervain would drip out and burn her hands.

Caroline let a faint noise of disbelief drop from her lips as she saw what it really was.

It was her. It was her, from that evening, next to the horse. She studied the shading, the care that had gone into the lines and the light that seemed to glow from the page itself. His words echoed in her head. 'You're full of light'. He had caught her light on the page.

It was the most romantic thing she had ever received. And it was given to her by a monster, a beast that had tried to kill her friends and make Mystic Falls a living hell.

She read the inscription in the corner, and it made her human side ache.

Thank you for your honesty.

Caroline bit her lip, wondering if she had judged too harshly, and shook her head again. No. He was a monster, and he had played them all in the past. How would she know that he wasn't playing her now? He set up this 'new' side to him that was sweet and caring, but they all knew there was a killer underneath. He sent such pretty lines her way, and she knew that had he come to town last year before Damon had swept her away, Klaus would have been exactly the man she was looking for. Someone with an element of danger and excitement, someone who knew the precise way to compliment her and get under her skin, someone who had such passion just beneath the surface and yet such a gentlemanly manner.

If she hadn't grown as a person since then, she would have already been under his spell.

If he hadn't been such a monster.

If he hadn't made the fatal mistake of killing people she cared about and messing with their lives for his own purposes.

But he had. And she would not let him forget it. Nor would she let him in.


	7. Caroline's Morning

Caroline stuffed her curls into a bun and settled the apron on her body before measuring out flour. She probably looked every inch the perfect little housewife, though she severely doubted any housewife was also a perfect little vampire as well. But she enjoyed the calming process of baking. It was so human. She smiled a little to herself before turning to grab an egg from the fridge.

"Never thought you'd be one to try to be a Martha Stewart." A familiar accent sounded, and she dropped the egg in shock. She caught it before it made a mess on the floor and stood to glare at the new arrival in the kitchen.

"And I never thought you'd resort to stalking. Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"Very funny, love." Klaus quirked his lips and sat at the counter to watch her work.

Caroline was not amused. "What do you want?" She said bluntly, knowing he never came without a set goal in mind.

"The pleasure of your company, nothing more."

Caroline remained paused, watching him, and he watched her stay in the same rooted positing for a few minutes, letting her stubbornness wear thin before she sighed and continued her work. She sifted the dry ingredients and used the distraction as an excuse to keep her eyes down and away from him as she said what she needed to say.

"I got your drawing…"

"Yes?" He said, halfway between gloating and nerves as to how she would react.

"…and while I don't appreciate you breaking into my house, cause that's just plain creepy." She grumbled under her breath slightly before continuing. "Thank you. It's nice."

Klaus wanted to chuckle at her reaction, but he held it in for her sake. "You're very welcome. I enjoyed drawing the subject."

Caroline could not think of a good sarcastic retort, and so they stayed in a companionable silence for some time as she worked.

"Why all of this cooking fuss anyway?" Klaus asked, genuinely perplexed. "Surely you aren't…hungry."

She suppressed a shiver at the sexy and predatory way he said the word, rolling the r in a growl that no American could pull off. She busied herself by whisking the eggs at a normal speed, which required more concentration and grounded her. Vampire speed and cooking did not mix, pun intended.

"For the record, I like at least trying to retain my humanity. And it sooths me." She smiled down at the mixing bowl, remembering the old days baking with her mom and grandma, with Elena and Bonnie, when the treat at the end would satisfy her need. Now there was something more that she craved for. Still, it didn't stop her from enjoying it.

Caroline glanced back up to Klaus; embarrassed by the attention he was paying her. "What?"

"You're so…human." He admitted, and she rolled her eyes, waiting for some form of insult to follow. She felt pleased at the comparison, since she did miss being 'normal' as she dubbed it, but she knew he wouldn't feel the same.

"Its refreshing." He continued.

She was pleasantly surprised, and knew she'd have to push it back to him being evil.

"Compared to what, your monstrous habits? I'm sure."

Klaus tensed slightly in his casual stance on the chair. "Let me explain something to you, little one. When you have eternity, when all life passes by and loses its meaning, you have nothing left but to search for a goal, for a purpose. That's what I'm doing."

Caroline was floored by his honesty, breaking the mood by returning to reality with a shrug.

"You should have taken up baking instead. Much more rewarding."

To her relief, he chuckled, and the mood lifted.

She turned to grab a tray from the draw and returned to catch him dipping his finger into the bowl.

"Hey!"

"I was curious, wanted to see what all your fuss was about." He countered, licking the mixture off his finger. Caroline watched his red mouth, no doubt stained that appealing colour from several lifetimes of blood, and how it moved around his finger. She hadn't realized that hers had parted in response till she caught him gazing at her mouth. Caroline recognised the hunger in his eyes, something that was always a slightly more predatory take on lust when you were a vampire, and her stomach dropped. Caroline cleared her throat, trying to return to some form of normalcy.

"And the verdict?"

Klaus looked up to meet her eyes, seeming like he was about to respond to the verdict of something other than her cooking, but he caught himself.

"Good. Nothing compared to blood."

She grimaced, spooning the mixture into the muffin cups and placing the first batch in the oven, setting the timer. She turned again to find him in the exact same position with a hand in the mixing bowl, and hit him with the spatula before she could stop herself.

He grinned up at her cheekily rather than responding in anger, and she feigned annoyance in return.

"If its so bad compared to blood, then why go for seconds?"

He moved it towards his mouth again and her eyes avidly followed, not realizing she had been caught staring till his hand paused right by his mouth. Caroline looked up to his eyes and knew he'd seen her look. He held her gaze, drawing closer to her, and gestured to his batter-covered finger.

"I'd most likely be presumptuous in asking this, but would you like a taste?"

She looked up at him with his small cheeky smirk, amusement and uncertainty dancing in his eyes, and she was unsure as to how she should respond to this very teasing, very normal side of him.

Klaus tried another tactic with a smile. "Perhaps something stronger." He said, licking away the batter and biting the tip, breaking the skin.

Caroline couldn't help it, she hadn't had a drink for a while, and the memory of his blood was so strong, just the scent was enough for her fangs to elongate.

He studied her as she was torn between what she believed was right and what she believed was crossing a line, and he stepped closer still so his blood was within reach.

"Come on, love, have at it." He encouraged, and she needed no more invitation. Keeping her eyes locked on his, she held his arm and latched onto his finger, drawing blood ever so slightly from the wound. Klaus breathed out at the feeling, she was one of the very few that he had offered drink from him, and one of an even smaller amount that had done so more than once, and she lifted her mouth, licking the blood from her lips. On a whim, she let her hand linger around his forearm, inclining her wrist towards him, a half invitation for the returned favor. He watched her, cautious for a change, and raised her wrist slowly to his mouth. She watched him, transfixed. He surprised her. Instead of biting her, as they both knew there was no harm in him doing with his blood still in her system, he pressed a feather light kiss to her inner wrist, making her catch her breath. He moved to her palm, pressing another kiss just as softly. Watching her carefully now, he let his fangs go and bit into her open palm, fighting to control himself as she ever so softly moaned. Rather than drawing more blood from her, he released her palm, licking the wound softly, kissing it again, before pulling his mouth away. He watched her face, waiting for the hissing, spitting wildcat to break free from her.

He was wrong again.

She drew closer, backing him up against the wall, eyes fixed on his parted lips. Klaus surveyed her face, looking for some sort of acceptance for him to move to kiss her. He leaned in slowly, nearly brushing her lips, but she blinked and turned her head so his lips were poised above her cheek. Rather than be offended, he showed some rare understanding. Caroline could not be pushed here, in this especially. It was a balance between right and wrong, loyalty and attraction. So Klaus was just tempt her further, till she knew what her choice would be. Klaus brushed his lips teasingly along her cheekbone, planting little kisses across her eyebrow and forehead. He reached her other cheek, dipping down to press his lips against the sensitive skin next to her earlobe, reveling in her elevated breathing and how she stepped ever closer to him, latching on to his shoulder and arm like an anchor. He gently drew his nose back along the soft skin of her cheek, letting their skin touch agonizingly slowly. Finally, he drew back to see her face again. Caroline's eyes fluttered open, and she watched him with her large sky blue eyes, waiting to see his next move. Klaus ducked his head close again, going in for a kiss once more, and her eyes closed in response. Her head didn't move away this time, but he realized that he didn't want to pressure or seduce her into this. He wanted her to give him her kiss, no pressure or deals included. He paused for a moment, an inch away from her mouth, their breaths mingling heatedly, electricity passing between them. Klaus tipped his head slightly, pressing a kiss to the very corner of her expectant mouth and drawing back. Caroline stayed there with her eyes closed for another beat before opening them to look up at him, confused. Klaus drew in a breath to explain, and thought the better of it.

"Your timer's about to go off." He said, and she lifted her eyebrows.

"Excuse me?" She asked, just as the egg timer went off, signaling the muffins completion. She backed away with a twinge of regret and fetched oven mitts, shutting off the timer before taking out the muffins.

"How did you – "

"I'm an Original, Caroline. I have an infinite perception of time." Klaus teased, not wanting to admit that it had been a complete fluke accident just to avoid not saying why he hadn't kissed her. He watched her from his stance by the wall as she went about putting in another batch and setting the first lot on a cooling rack. He could tell her mind had been churning over something by the way she stilled after her activity, her back to him where she stood by the sink.

"What are you trying to do here, Klaus?" She asked, fists clenched where they rested on the countertop. "I'm trying to make sense of everything, and I'm failing."

"I enjoy you. What more do you need to know, love?" He kept his cards close, not wanting her to see through him like last night.

It was his mistake.

Caroline turned to face him, eyes searching. "What more? I need to understand. I need to know what you expect me to do here. Do you think that hiding behind some nice guy persona is just going to make it all better? That if you charm and seduce me I'm going to forget that you've killed all those people and ruined the lives of the people I care about the most?"

Klaus kept his face blank, and it fed her anger. She had left herself open and vulnerable, eyes closed in his embrace, waiting for his kiss, and he had backed off like it was all just a game to him.

"You can fling out all the lines, shower me with every thoughtless gift, pretend to be the good guy all you want. But I know its all fake. And I wont fall for it. I'll just see you as the big bad wolf, forever."

Klaus reigned in the overactive werewolf emotions coiling inside him.

"Forever is a long time, Caroline." He grated out. "Don't think I'll give up that easily."

"I wish you would." She flung bitterly at him, and he flashed over to her, trapping her between his arms at the sink. Their bodies were so close, not touching, but thrumming with energy at being mere inches away from each other. She inhaled sharply, and he smirked down at her.

"Be careful what you wish for, sweetheart." He murmured darkly in the shell of her ear. Before she could remember herself and come back with a witty retort, he was gone, too fast for even her to see.

She hated him. It was like seeing two people trapped in the same body at the same time. She would have been happier if he just remained the same jackass bad guy all the time rather than trying to woo her with his sweet side. Cause he gave good woo. And she didn't want to break to that, because she could already feel the fractures in her resolve.

But no. She hated him. He had ruined all their lives and continued to do so. He was dangerous. Murderous. She would dance happily on his grave…somehow.

Her phone buzzed, and she checked the text from Elena.

New plan. Come over to mine and us girls will figure out what we can do? Damon's been a dick again. E xxx

Of course Damon had done something else.

A knock sounded at her door, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah? It's open." She called. No one too dangerous was invited into the house, and she was a big bad vampire now. Besides, the one biggest threat in town had just left, and he wouldn't have had the courtesy to knock first.

Damon walked in to see her setting the third tray in the oven.

"Aw, honey, you baked."

"Its not that rare, Damon." She rolled her eyes, wiping her hands and setting them on her hips. "What's up? I don't usually get house calls."

"I was in the neighbourhood, thought I'd say hello."

She rolled her eyes, and he scoffed.

"Alright, Stefans being a tool. I had to get out of there before I throttled him or something. But that's beside the point. How would you feel about another plan?" "Depends on the goal."

"Kill Klaus. The usual plan. What else would you expect?"

Caroline gritted her teeth at the fresh memory of the Original. "I'm in. What am I meant to do?"

"Distract him. Seduce him."

She seethed, her eyes flashing red and her veins darkening in absolute rage. "Never."

"Calm down, Blondie, I didn't say sleep with him." Damon tutted, folding his arms.

"Its still just as repulsive." Caroline huffed, trying to calm herself.

"Why? Has something more happened between the two of you, apart from his freaky obsession?"

She recalled their embrace and heated words only moments ago in this very kitchen, the blood exchange, the drawing, the embrace and lustful words last night, the confessions, his passion for art…and it would seem, for her also.

"Nothing, really." She blanked, and Damon gave her his piercing look before his phone buzzed at him, probably Elena checking up on him. Again. He grimaced at the phone, making her wonder if something else was afoot. She sniffed.

"Urgh, really Damon?"

He widened his eyes at her. "What?"

"You smell like sex."

He flashed his self assured smile at her. "It's the scent I carry off the best."

Caroline inhaled again, finally placing the other scent. "And a certain designer perfume that I know is trademark for our favorite bloodslut." She gasped. "You slept with Rebekah?"

Damon glared at her. Clearly word was going to travel fast in their Scooby doo gang. "That's none of your business. Just distract Klaus. He'll be at the Grill tonight. Skank up a bit, you know how, get him out of the bar and keep him occupied for a while." He turned for the door, not wanting to linger so she could rampage on about his escapades. Caroline was more distracted by the plan to kill Klaus anyway.

"And then what happens after I keep him occupied?" Caroline enquired, curious.

"That's on a need to know basis. And you don't need to know." He smiled at her without warmth. "Just distract the hybrid somehow. Flash him a bit of skin and get him panting after you." He turned and headed for the door.

"Hey, what did you mean 'skank up'?" She growled, and he looked back over his shoulder as he opened the door.

"Oh, Vampire Barbie. You know what to do for your date with Hybrid Ken."

She snarled viciously at him and he laughed, shutting the door before she could find something large enough to throw at him.


	8. Klaus's Morning

After the utter fiasco of the ball the previous evening, Klaus was left without a clue of what to do next. Much as he wanted to focus on the bigger issue of Mystic Falls and the seemingly never-ending line of people who wanted to kill him, he couldn't tear his thoughts away from that one girl. Caroline, the goddess of the night, the celestial being that had graced him with her presence right before she snapped his conscience back into place. He was fighting to keep his morality as low as possible, but she made him want to be better. Though she sought to hurt him with the insights to his flawed personality, it only gave him strength to fight it, to fight the odds and win her good opinion. He wanted to prove himself to Caroline.

Of course, once the chase was gone, he'd still revert back to his old ways. He was a creature of habit, and once the chase was over and the challenge won, he got bored.

Yet even he had to admit he didn't ever put this much effort into it. Especially with a woman who refused to be seduced. He hadn't pursued many women who refused his initial advances. He had a knack for winning them over somehow. Casanova had learnt his skills of seduction from him, the legend of Don Juan had been based on him, and he had certainly had his share of women over the past centuries of his existence.

There was something different here. She drew him in like gravity, like she was the sun, full of light. And he was well aware of the irony of the sun being a vampires weakness, and how it was equally if not even weaker for a vampire, an Original vampire, to care for or feel for anyone else. But she demanded that care, and he was more than willing to give it. He would give her anything.

She was surely becoming his greatest weakness.

Klaus gritted his teeth at that revelation, leaving the house. He needed to hunt, to get that want for her out of his system for a while. He began to speed through the woods, wanting to reach the next town to feed so as not to draw attention to Mystic Falls. But his mind had already entered the predator state, and when he picked up a familiar scent, he paused.

Caroline. She had hunted here.

The want to see her, even if just for a moment, to see if he could win her, filled his mind again, and he was powerless to it, slowing down is run to change course for her house.

Klaus didn't even process the insanity of his actions till he was at her door. He couldn't just knock and say he had been in the neighborhood and wanted a cup of tea. Nor could he barge in and confess outright that she consumed his thoughts, since that was far too forward. So without thought, he went halfway. Opening the door to her house, he smiled slightly as he took a free step across the threshold, pleased every time he came over that he had been invited into her house. His ears pricked and he heard only one pair of lungs breathing in the house, in the kitchen, only one beating heart that beat at vampire speed. So she was alone. In the kitchen? Already he was amused at the idea of her in a place so mundane. This was the real reason to see her, he wanted to see why she enjoyed normalcy and human existence so much. Why she preferred to be home in such a small, comfortable existence when he would gladly show her the world if she just said so. Klaus knew she secretly loved the drama and adrenaline her new life gave her. She wanted safety, but she also wanted excitement, and he could easily give her that, if she would only let him.

Caroline hummed a snippet of the song from last night, and Klaus came back to earth with a smirk. Was she thinking about last night? He had to talk to her, he wouldn't just skulk around in her hallway all day, and it wasn't like he would back out now.

Klaus rounded the corner at a normal speed, thinking that he hadn't been stealthy, so she would know he was there already. Caroline looked like a domestic star, tousled hair and apron, like a sunbeam in the kitchen.

"Never thought you'd be one to try to be a Martha Stewart." He grinned, and she gasped and dropped something, catching it and glaring heatedly at him. He catalogued it as one of his many favorite looks on her. How had she not heard him? Was she really that distracted by her thoughts?

"And I never thought you'd resort to stalking. Thought I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"Very funny, love." He held back a chuckle at her unexpected, yet very typical retort. No one had had the gumption to snap back at him for a while, even Rebekah, and never had anyone outside his family been able to stand up to him like that.

"What do you want?" She cut straight to the point, seeing right through him.

"The pleasure of your company, nothing more." Klaus smiled pleasantly at her, and she glared at him, bringing back the fire from last night. He was very aware of how caddish he had behaved last night before she had left, and he felt the need to show her a more civilised, charming side to him. She didn't believe him for a second, and she had every right to, but he always got his way. He always got what he wanted. So he sat by the counter where the baking ingredients were set up, and waited for her to give in.

Caroline did so in a matter of minutes, and sifted some ingredients with a manner that told him she did this often. He watched her curiously, and she refused to meet his gaze. Klaus was about to ask her why she bothered cooking, when she came up with a topic that clearly was plaguing her.

"I got your drawing…"

"Yes?" He asked quickly, wanting the rest of her sentence as swiftly as possible. Something foreign jumped in his stomach, and he found himself awaiting her words with anticipation. Was he nervous? Nothing made him nervous, how could he be nervous about a baby vampire's thoughts?

"…and while I don't appreciate you breaking into my house, cause that's just plain creepy." She shot him a look, trying to remain as hostile as possible. "Thank you. It's nice."

Klaus tried not to look pleased. She did not get under his skin. No one got under his skin. But he still felt pleased. "You're very welcome. I enjoyed drawing the subject."

She hid a smile, and went back to measuring vanilla extract into the bowl. He watched her concentrate and turn into a content being, and wanted to know why it happened. What was it about such a human action that settled her?

"Why all of this cooking fuss anyway? Surely you aren't…hungry." He grinned. He was well aware of the affect he had on her, and his accent had been an advantage with women for many a century.

And yet it didn't get to her. He watched as Caroline whisked, glancing up to him with indifference. Either she was a terrific actress, or she required more persuading.

"For the record, I like at least trying to retain my humanity. And it sooths me."

Klaus knew she was trying to hint towards his inexistent humanity, but she had still managed to let two facts drop about herself, and he focused on those instead. She wanted to preserve her humanity, and she was comforted by it. She was fascinating.

Caroline glanced up, looking embarrassed. He couldn't understand how she could be so flustered by the attention which she so fully deserved.

"What?"

"You're so…human. Its refreshing." He stated honestly.

She flicked back to sass quickly. "Compared to what, your monstrous habits? I'm sure."

She really couldn't take a compliment. And she really knew what to do to frustrate him. He knew what he had to do to get past her harsh front. "Let me explain something to you, little one. When you have eternity, when all life passes by and loses its meaning, you have nothing left but to search for a goal, for a purpose. That's what I'm doing."

She was blissfully stunned for a moment, and actually met his gaze for a long moment rather than looking away. He reveled in her calming blue gaze.

But she blinked, and the moment passed. "You should have taken up baking instead. Much more rewarding."Her tone wasn't snappy like before, she was…being funny. There was a twinkle in her eye that he had never seen before, and he was drawn in by it. He chuckled, stunned.

Caroline squinted her eyes at him in a comical way, and moved to another cupboard in the kitchen.

Klaus couldn't tame his curiosity. He looked at the bowl, wondering what on earth could be so appealing about it. Or, more so, why a vampire, a young, bloodlusting vampire, would prefer something so normal. He dipped his finger into the mix, intending to just taste a little without her knowledge, but of course, he was caught.

"Hey!"

He looked up, knowing how he must look like a child with his hand in the cookie jar. He liked the idea of appearing so normal to her.

"I was curious, wanted to see what all the fuss was about." Klaus lifted his battered finger, and tasted the uncooked mix. Not bad, he mused, her blood was far more tempting, though. He looked over to her, noting how her mouth had parted slightly, presumably in shock at his cheeky behaviour, and the small action caught his attention immediately. Her lips had that beautiful lilt to them, remaining in a smile even as they parted, and he was filled with the need to take her bottom lip between his own lips, or teeth, or swipe his tongue across…

She pressed her lips together and cleared her throat, and he realized he had been caught looking.

"And the verdict?"

Klaus immediately assumed she had read his mind, and lifted his gaze to her eyes to check. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew she did mean the verdict on her human cooking, but he was too overcome with the fact that her eyes portrayed a hunger that he was certain mirrored her own.

"Good." He managed to say, with only a slightly husky tone. "Nothing compared to blood."

Caroline grimaced, though he saw the slight bloodlust in her eyes, and she continued to potter around in the kitchen, preparing another tray.

He couldn't help himself: he wanted that reaction from her again. He replaced his hand in the bowl. She didn't disappoint, tapping his hand with the spatula and flashing her eyes in playful annoyance. He grinned back at her cheekily, his mind racing ahead with a plan.

"If it's so bad compared to blood, then why go for seconds?" She quipped.

He shrugged, moving to taste the mixture again. He watched her eyes follow to his mouth, and he smirked slightly.

"I'd most likely be presumptuous in asking this, but would you like a taste?" Klaus couldn't fully believe he had just let that slip from his mouth. But he couldn't let the chance pass by. She looked up to him, and he felt such a twinge in his chest that if he hadn't already been dead a thousand years, he was certain that she would have killed him with that mere glance. It was so uncertain, so unguarded, so beautifully innocent and with that longing hidden far away in the depths of her eyes. He was reminded of bloodlust, and changed his plan.

"Perhaps something stronger." He drawled, licking the unsatisfyingly human batter, and biting into his own finger, ignoring the pain once he saw the flash in her eyes.

"Come on, love, have at it." Klaus murmured, persuading. He breathed out as she gave in and placed her mouth on the small wound. She was one of the very few who had tasted his blood more than once in such an intimate fashion. And he felt that there were no other lips that he would prefer against his skin.

All too soon, she pulls her mouth away, and looks up at him, licking his blood from her lips. It was the most entrancing thing he had ever seen. Caroline extended her wrist slightly towards him, and he hesitated. His own hesitation confused him. He was always one to take what he wanted without a pause, and it shocked him to find that he wanted to take only what was offered to him with this baby vampire, this little one.

He raised her wrist to her mouth, wanting to be gentle, wanting to be the lover that he had referenced the night before. He brushed kisses along her arm, smiling slightly into her hand as she inhaled sharply. Keeping his eyes on hers, stormy blue locked on sky, he let his fangs go. Her scent was intoxicating; vanilla and cinnamon from baking, sunlight and lavender from her own self. He couldn't hold back any longer, and bit into her palm, overwhelmed by just how pure she tasted.

Klaus caught himself as she let out a breath that sounded slightly like a moan. His bloodlust wasn't the only word in his mind with the letters 'l' 'u' 's' and 't', and he assumed from her reaction that it could be the same for her.

But he couldn't be sure.

He kissed her open palm once more, waiting for her angry fiery reaction. Instead, she was merely fiery, drawing closer to him, and in his surprise he backed up against the wall, bringing her with him.

Klaus surveyed her face. She was such an enigma, and he didn't know whether or not to move to kiss her. He took a chance, leaning in, and saw his mistake. She turned her head slightly, and his lips brushed her cheek instead. He was slightly taken back by her change of heart, but understood her actions, and smiled slightly against her, accepting the offer to tempt her instead.

He traced his lips over her sensitive skin, taking note of each and every reaction she gave. He allowed himself to get lost in the taste of her skin, the pressure of her hand on his shoulder, her scent that washed over him.

Klaus drew back, wanting to see her new reaction to his seduction.

Caroline's eyes fluttered open, and she watched him with her large sky blue eyes, waiting to see his next move. Klaus ducked his head close again, going in for a kiss once more, and her eyes closed in response. Her head didn't move away this time, but he realized that he didn't want to pressure or seduce her into this. He wanted her to give him her kiss, no pressure or deals included. He paused for a moment, an inch away from her mouth, their breaths mingling heatedly, electricity passing between them. Klaus tipped his head slightly, pressing a kiss to the very corner of her expectant mouth and drawing back. Caroline stayed there with her eyes closed for another beat before opening them to look up at him, confused. Klaus drew in a breath to explain, and thought the better of it.

"Your timer's about to go off." He said, and she lifted her eyebrows.

"Excuse me?" She asked, just as the egg timer went off, signaling the muffins completion. He sighed slightly as she backed away to normalcy, truthfully thankful for the distraction.

"How did you – "

"I'm an Original, Caroline. I have an infinite perception of time." Klaus teased, not wanting to admit that it had been a complete fluke accident just to avoid not saying why he hadn't kissed her. He watched her from his stance by the wall as she went about putting in another batch and setting the first lot on a cooling rack. He could tell her mind had been churning over something by the way she stilled after her activity, her back to him where she stood by the sink.

"What are you trying to do here, Klaus?" She asked, fists clenched where they rested on the countertop. "I'm trying to make sense of everything, and I'm failing."

"I enjoy you. What more do you need to know, love?" He kept his cards close, not wanting her to see through him like last night.

It was his mistake.

Caroline turned to face him, eyes searching. "What more? I need to understand. I need to know what you expect me to do here. Do you think that hiding behind some nice guy persona is just going to make it all better? That if you charm and seduce me I'm going to forget that you've killed all those people and ruined the lives of the people I care about the most?"

Klaus kept his face blank, and saw her anger grow.

"You can fling out all the lines, shower me with every thoughtless gift, pretend to be the good guy all you want. But I know its all fake. And I wont fall for it. I'll just see you as the big bad wolf, forever."

Klaus reigned in the overactive werewolf emotions coiling inside him.

"Forever is a long time, Caroline." He grated out. "Don't think I'll give up that easily."

"I wish you would." She flung bitterly at him, and he flashed over to her, trapping her between his arms at the sink. Their bodies were so close, not touching, but thrumming with energy at being mere inches away from each other. She inhaled sharply, and he smirked down at her.

"Be careful what you wish for, sweetheart." Klaus murmured darkly in the shell of her ear. He took in her face, and her unguarded expression. He watched her avidly with an artists eye, wanting to catch her on paper. It was at that moment, teetering on the extreme emotions of anger and lust, that he knew she had gotten under his skin too. She was his muse.

Klaus wrenched himself away. He couldn't let their meeting get anymore twisted and bittersweet and hurtful.

He stormed home, torn between too many emotions. The one it boiled down to was currently enrapturement of her image in his head. He wanted to get her on paper as soon as possible. He had been so close that he had seen every eyelash, every freckle. He had traced her porcelain skin with his own lips, had made her rosebud lips part. He had done all that. And he still somehow couldn't wrap his brain around it. He only knew that he had to get it onto paper to study it again, to truly see that he had done that. He had elicited such passion, such a fiery reaction such willing acceptance for that one brief moment from her. He settled on the couch, content. He began to sketch face after face, angle after angle, drawing from every instant he had seen her angelic features. He refused to break his concentration for anything, not with Elijah pottering around in the next room, or Kol broodily storming from place to place.

So he was slightly irritated when Kol strode in petulantly, demanding attention with his booming voice.

"Where is everyone?"

"I don't know, Kol, maybe they all couldn't take your pigheaded ego and left." Klaus sighed, not bothering to break away from his shading.

"Very funny, Nik, but we all know no one can match your ego in this house. Or your loneliness." Kol took a cheap shot at him, wanting a reaction from his brother to cure his boredom. Nik was always good for a fight, yet here he was, distracted, grounded and level headed even.

"What's that?" Kol asked, leaning over to take a peek at the sketches, and Klaus moved to the other couch in the blink of an eye.

Kol huffed and sat in the seat his brother had just vacated, still bored. "You're no fun."

"Some say its my best feature." Klaus smirked, smoothing a thumb over a line.

They sat in silence for a while, Kol drumming his fingers on the armrest in a petty attempt to gain attention and failing.

Suddenly, he perked up, and if Klaus had bothered to concentrate on anything other than the images in his mind and on his page, he would have heard Rebekah's quiet approach.

"Well, well, well, there's our girl." Kol stood in preparation, knowing his sister would have to pass through the room and that he could certainly rile her up for his amusement. She strolled in, still dressed in last nights green gown, hair dishevilled, shoes in hand. Kol refused to let her by, sidestepping with her like a practiced dance.

"Get out of my way, Kol." Rebekah gritted, and he grinned.

"Out all night, what a scandal!"

She shot him a glare, and he dug deeper.

"I hope you did better than that commoner…Matt, was it?"

He knew he'd hit the nerve perfectly, finally getting the reaction he had wanted all morning.

"If you don't shut your mouth, the next thing to come out of it will be your teeth." Rebekah growled, and Kol raised his eyebrows.

Klaus, who had tuned out most of their pointless banter, looked up to see their antics, and went back to the sketches with a smile. He'd had enough heated confrontations that morning, and he had preferred the previous one with the little one, his baby vampire.

Rebekah noted him with a glare. "Don't start, Nik." She pushed past Kol with a few stomps.

Klaus had to suppress a smile at her behavior: it was just so much like this morning. "I didn't say anything."

He looked fondly at Caroline's face on the paper, and Rebekah shot a knowing glance to the sketchpad. He pulled it out of her sight, but she saw enough to know who her brothers new muse was. Much as she envied the girl for her position at school and how quickly she had caught her brothers attention, she had to be a little happy. Klaus had chosen the one girl in Mystic Falls who was strong enough not to take any of his moody crap. And she felt closer to the fellow blonde after their moments the other night.

Even though the night had resulted in her being blown off by the captain of the football team with Caroline's own words from earlier.

"I'm bored." Kol announced like he expected them to do something about it. "Our sister is a strumpet, but at least she's having fun. I need entertainment."

Kol glanced over to Klaus, who tore his gaze from the artwork to look up and exhale.

"What are you waiting for, go on, have at it." He said in a bored tone, wanting much more privacy to pour out his complicated emotions into art.

"Its no fun to go alone." Kol pouted. "Come on, join me Nik!" He frowned at the lack of attention he was receiving from Klaus, and went for the sulking option. "It's the least you could do after sticking a dagger in my heart."

Klaus looked up, not wanting to admit that his little brother had pulled on the few heartstrings he had left, and tilted his head in consideration.

"Okay, why not," He gave in, placing the sketch pad to the side with gentle care. He took in Kols triumphant face and rolled his eyes. "I didn't have nearly enough to drink last night, what with you trying to murder Rebekah's date." And having delectable conversations with his creature of the light.

He walked to the door, not wanting to witness Rebekah's anger anymore.

"Yes, please go, this house already has enough men in it."

"Just like you, Bekah." Kol shot cheekily at her.

"Good riddance, both of you!" She huffed, throwing a shoe at Kol pointlessly as he left.


	9. Bar Night Betrayal

Caroline strutted into the bar as she had been instructed. Glancing down, she grimaced a little before undoing the button of her blazer, letting her chest flash to the Grill. She didn't particularly warm to the idea of showing off her goods to the drunk population of Mystic Falls, but she had to make the plan work. Plus she may or may not have wanted to get a strong reaction from Klaus for her own selfish reasons. What could she say, she felt a bit rejected from earlier, and wanted to beat him at his own game with her own special weapons. It had absolutely nothing to do with any other emotion.

Caroline spotted Alaric and Meredith eyeing her warily from beside the pool table, and she continued to saunter over to Klaus and Kol.

Klaus couldn't take his eyes off her.

She was just as beautiful as when he had seen her this morning, only now her fierce lioness side had taken hold. And if she had looked delectable in the kitchen, she certainly looked ravishing right now.

"I remember her from last night." Kol brought him back to earth, and Klaus sensed his brother sitting up straighter, preening like a bird, but he refused to tear his eyes away from the blonde bombshell walking towards them.

"She looks like a tasty little thing." Kol leered, and Klaus instantly clamped his brothers foot under his without even looking. She was Klaus' to taste, Klaus' little thing. Not even a thing. She was his little one. One.

"Say another word and I'll tear out your liver." Klaus drawled, and his brother managed to retrieve his foot from the hold, snickering. His big brother fired up for some baby vampire? This girl must clearly be something.

She had almost brushed past them when Klaus called out to her.

"Caroline,"

Her mere name on his lips, with that accent drawing out the 'a' in a different way, lingering on the 'i', the overall growl on the 'r' with his gravelly voice, sent a tingle down her spine, but she suppressed it and let out the inner bitch that was still pissed at him.

"Oh, its you." She said coldly, folding her arms and shifting her weight to one hip, letting the hot bitchy hostility roll off her in waves.

Klaus was unperturbed. "Join us for a drink?" he offered, thinking of their drink much earlier that day in her kitchen, the overwhelming taste of her blood and the even more pressing desire to consume her, mind, body and soul. From the look in her eyes as she studied him, he could tell that she was reminiscing as well. But she shattered any growing feelings with her words.

"Mmm, I'd rather die of thirst, but thanks." She quipped sweetly, ignoring how her throat called for another taste of his blood, for another taste of just his skin, for his body to be pressed against hers. She used that adrenaline to spin on her heel and strut back out, ensuring to sway her hips just so and let the air push her golden waves enticingly.

Klaus was speechless, then chuckled. He had seen a hint of her fangs; he knew he had got to her on some level. But he immediately wanted more, wanted to know more.

"Isn't she stunning." He said aloud, grinning after her. He didn't even remember his brother sitting next to him till he spoke.

"She certainly looks good walking away from you." Kol exclaimed, curious as to why his brother was so happy after the girl had clearly turned him down, and how the baby vampire had the gumption to pretty much tell Klaus where to stick it without a hint of fear.

Klaus downed his drink, knowing he'd need it if he did was he was already planning to do, and stood from his perch at the barstool.

"I'll take that as a challenge." He grinned at Kol, before marching off after her.

"Caroline." Klaus called as he strode purposefully towards her retreating figure, oblivious to the car he almost ran in to. He'd easily plow through fifty freight trains and an ocean to get to her.

"Are you serious? Take a hint." Caroline, called, not bothering to turn back for longer than it took for her to speak. She didn't wait for his reply before continuing to saunter off into the night, afraid her face would give her game away. She was pleased her ruse was working, but also happy he had followed her for other reasons. Reasons she was not prepared to truly explore.

Klaus kept after her, taking her hesitation to face him as fury.

"Don't be angry, love. We've had a few little spats. I'm over them already." He admitted with honesty, recalling his run that morning and the incredible sketches he had mused over after seeing her.

"Ah, well, I'm not." Caroline replied with the same honesty, slowing her pace despite herself to give him a chance. To give the Salvatore's plan a chance. She didn't know which came first.

"How can I aquit myself?"

Caroline stopped, turning to face him. "You, and your expensive jewelry, and your romantic drawings can leave me alone." She had rehearsed the line in her mirror only hours before, but even she didn't fully believe it as she delivered the words. But she saw how it got under Klaus' skin. He had issues with being alone, all that trouble with his father and mother. God, so many people wanted him to be as far away from them as possible, and she had delivered that blow when she hadn't even really meant it. She couldn't very well say she enjoyed his company; her loyalty to the good and right side prevented that.

But his vulnerable gaze hurt her, too. A deep, gnawing pain in her chest that was far more unbearable than she had predicted.

Neither one of them wanted to see the other like that, but while Caroline's base instinct was to turn and run, Klaus fought for compassion for a change.

"Come on, take a chance Caroline."

She faltered, looking back at him. He saw his chance, and moved swiftly to sit on a park bench, knowing that if she was sitting she clearly couldn't walk away as quickly.

"Talk to me." He said, leaving it as more of an open request than his usual command, looking at her with his wide, stormy, persuasive eyes.

Caroline was rooted to the spot, stunned and yet moved by his gesture. He took her lack of reaction as need for more persuading.

"Come on, get to know me." He looked her straight in the eye, and knew what he needed for that last little push. "I dare you." He murmured with a smile that jolted her internal organs and sent tingles to her palms and arches. His eyes had that familiar flash every time he dared her – that cheeky challenge that he knew she simply couldn't resist.

Caroline wasn't about to let him see how quickly he got under her skin. "Fine." She huffed with attitude, fighting back her smile and sitting primly next to him. His stare was intimidating and slightly flattering, and she shifted her gaze awkwardly, not knowing where to look, not knowing what to do with this man's complete and utterly transfixed attention.

"So, what do you want to talk about?"

"I want to talk about you." Klaus said with honesty, looking at her from under his lashes. It was so direct and yet unexpected that Caroline laughed, because what else could she do, really?

Klaus smiled with her, but continued. "Your hopes, your dreams, everything you want in life." He was completely serious, which surprised himself. It had started out as a line in his mind, and somewhere along the way he found that he was awaiting the answer almost eagerly. He wanted to fool himself and say that it was simply so he had new inside information to win her over, but it felt like more than that. He genuinely wanted to figure out this girl he sat next to, wanted to get past her defenses and find out what made her. But to do that, he'd have to let down his guard in return.

"Okay, Caroline chuckled, vaguely confused but knowing how the game worked. "Just to be clear, I'm too smart to be seduced by you." She fixed him with a look to convince him, but he seemed to see past that and flashed a genuine smile.

"Well that's why I like you." He murmured, holding her gaze till she flustered and looked down with a smile. "So how about it, love?" Klaus continued, hoping she would answer properly.

Caroline pursed her lips in thought. "Alright. But only if you answer them too. And properly. None of this 'my dream is to build a hybrid army' stuff."

Klaus chuckled, quickly thinking through his answers and wondering if she would really care to hear them as he was right now.

"Perhaps a deal: we both say the hopes and dreams we had as humans, before we turned."

Caroline was a bit annoyed that he had easily side stepped the whole hybrid thing. Still, she was also grateful – she hadn't thought far enough into the future to know her hopes and dreams yet. When you were a vampire in dangerous Mystic Falls, you tended to take each day as they came and not think too far ahead to be so presumptuous that you'd have a next week, let alone a next year.

"That's still unfair. I was human only last year, and how long has it been for you? A billion years?" She exaggerated, wanting another chuckle and some light humor from him, and she was rewarded.

"Only a thousand years back, sweetheart. Lets not give me wrinkles." They both relaxed enough to laugh a little, and looked at each other for a moment. Caroline was surprised at how she was actually opening up to him, the killer hybrid with a death wish on all her friends. She looked down, not focusing on that, just concentrating on what her answer was.

"My hopes and dreams as a human were very small." She flashed her eyes up to his, always willing to make fun of herself to make a situation less serious. "Small town girl, small town life, the simplest wishes were enough."

"You've grown now, though." He said softly, assuredly. She blinked in surprise, grateful, and Klaus realized that she was moved by small, meaningful gestures that triggered gratitude in her; but not often thanks. Whether that was due to the fact that she didn't believe them or that she felt she didn't deserve them, he was yet to discover. But he was still pleased, and gave a small smile at this revelation.

"Go on," he encouraged.

"Oh, my actual answers?" Caroline scoffed. "They were nothing."

"I'd still like to hear them." Klaus said, and she rolled her eyes at his attention, but continued.

"Finish high school, go to college, settle down as a real estate agent in Mystic Falls, have a family and watch them all grow, encourage them to do even more than I did, to succeed and try and win." She became self conscious, and shrugged her answer off. "Boring, really. Compared to reality."

Klaus watched her. Her answer had shown her simple human life, and he knew that even as a human she would have been bored by that life eventually. Caroline was a woman who could do anything she wanted, she just hadn't realized it yet. He made a small promise in his mind that he would help her realize herself and what she was really worth, somehow.

Caroline looked anywhere but him, till she realized that he still had to answer.

"And what about you, the Original Niklaus Mikaelson?"

Klaus smiled quietly at Caroline saying his full name, and thought through his answer.

"It was a long time ago."

"A long, long, long time ago." Caroline teased, and he chuckled. She marveled at the fact that she could push his buttons and he would still laugh his boyish laugh. Here she was, Caroline Forbes, teasing the Original Hybrid, and not only did he not decapitate her, he laughed.

"Just know that the expectations back then were different." He continued, and Caroline waited, patient and curious. He had see so much of the world and time, and she understood that it would have changed his perception of human life too.

"I wanted to be a soldier. Sword fights with my brothers were the challenges I looked forward to. Our village was so small, so small." He chuckled. "It was always expected for us, the older brothers in particular, to find a girl and continue our bloodline, but even though there were many girls I could have had for a wife, and I came close to settling, it never quite felt right. Something was missing." Klaus glanced over at Caroline from the corner of his eye, and she held it before biting her lip and looking down. Klaus continued, letting the moment slide.

"So I concentrated on my fighting skills and waited for a time that I could join a force where I could use those skills. Most likely a village protector. I was actually never one for attacking and plundering. Those skills came after a few centuries of running from my father."

Caroline felt his mood dip and forced a smile on her face. "Not an Original Viking, then."

Klaus smiled a little at her attempt to bring his mood back, and sighed, trying to bring himself back to the lovely celestial being seated next to him. It was the least he could do when she was actively trying to cheer him up too. "No, not quite."

Caroline mused. He was a protector. That fit in perfectly with his family, he was the soldier, he was the one that made sure they would be safe and continue to survive against threats, regardless of the cost. It also showed why he liked things to be in his control.

Klaus watched her take all the information in.

"What are you thinking?" He asked softly.

"You're different to what I thought you were." Caroline said truthfully, looking at him.

He held her gaze with a small smile. "You are more than I thought you were." He replied, and she was reminded of his compliments the other night in a rush.

They sat in a beautiful silence, studying one another, but Klaus suddenly huffed, putting a hand to his chest and standing.

"What is it?" Caroline asked, confused and tinged with worry. She stood to help him but paused, uncertain as to how she could.

Klaus looked up at her, suddenly aware of just how open he had become, just how vulnerable he was. "What did you do?" He asked, thinking of what a beautiful distraction she had been, and what an easy target he had become.

Caroline blanked. "Nothing." She answered, and then remembered Damon's plan, Bonnie's words echoing through her head. He'll be dead by the end of the night.

Klaus saw the guilt in her eyes, and rage swam up easily: rage at her for deceiving him, but most of all rage at himself for his new weakness.

"What did you do?" He snarled, grabbing her arms and pulling her against him. He wanted her to fear him, for fear was a much easier emotion that he could handle. In the depths of his mind, he knew it would be easier to scare her away for both his protection and hers. He needed to hide his heart, his humanity, and she needed to run from him, run far away.

To his dismay, there was no fear in her eyes, merely a flicker of guilt at deceiving him and and anger that rose to match and fight his own.

"I didn't do anything, stop it!" She hissed back.

He could see she was as ready for a fight as he was, but he couldn't afford that right now. He felt the hollow pain in his chest again and snapped into his soldier mode: protect the family.

"Kol," He breathed, shooting off into the night, leaving Caroline more alone than ever.

Her anger still flowed through her body, and she considered going after Klaus and giving him a piece of her mind, but she knew it wouldn't be wise to tangle with the Salvatores or the Mikaelsons tonight, for neither one of the families would hesitate to stake her if she did. She also wanted to throw something or break something, but she knew that it wouldn't do anyone any good, and she could easily hurt someone unintentionally.

But she had already done that tonight. Twice.

Once when she saw Klaus confused and finally understanding that she had used his emotions against him. She hadn't intended for him to hurt from that, for hurting required caring in the first place, which she had assured herself that he did not, but now she wasn't so certain.

The second time had been hurting herself. What scared her was that she had been hurt by Klaus' pain. His reaction to her deceit had caused her to feel so guilty that she had hurt. What's more, his anger had changed everything. Gone was the gentleman from before, here was the beast. This was a glimpse of the monster that roamed in the dark. And she couldn't untangle whether she felt hurt that he had pretended to be so nice and kind and…human…or whether she felt hurt that she had triggered the monster.

She was scared by how she was immediately thinking about how she could earn the gentleman back after her betrayal. She knew she was meant to be thinking about self preservation. After all, he had told her that she had to wrong him first for him to do the same to her. It didn't matter that she had broken the norm with him. It didn't matter that she could already get away with so much with him. He would no doubt let go of his growing morals to kill her. But she was more concerned that he would let go of his morals in the first place. Or worse, let go of her. She…she wanted his company.

Everything was so twisted.

Caroline took back what she thought before. She needed to kick something.

She started running and didn't stop till she was in the woods and almost on top of a large bolder in her path. She kept running at it, letting loose a punch into the ragged surface. Once the dust settled, she stood there, panting from her emotions running riot, and noted the crater in the surface with glee.

She looked up and say the clear night sky, with all those stars that people never got to see in a city or town. Caroline was reminded of her first real conversation in the trees with Klaus on her birthday, about the feeling of starlight on her skin being akin to sunlight, and she climbed to the top of the rocky formation, sitting down and looking up to the circle of trees that framed her clearing of stars. She looked down at her daylight ring, fidgeted with it, then took it off with a sigh.

Oh.

She could feel the starlight. It wasn't a feeling like the burn that the sun gave, but it was a feeling that set her skin alight with a bittersweet tingle. She felt…alive. More alive than when she drank blood, more alive than her years as a human. Caroline lifted her face to the heavens, drinking in the feeling. She tried to draw a comparison…and found it with a dull shock. She felt like that around Klaus. Like her skin was alight, reflecting the twinkle of the stars. She frowned. Surely she had just been compelled to feel this way, to miss him, to want his presence. It had nothing to do with him.

She couldn't help but notice that what she had with Tyler – what little she had with him currently – was completely different. Tyler evoked lust from her, a yearning to help him and then help herself to his body in ways far more potent than bloodlust.

Klaus…well, he made her want to bask in his presence, much like the starlight. And in that same way, he expected nothing of her but her existence, did not promote himself to a demigod status like he usually did. His words and his body beckoned to her, stirring up feelings, a want and a craving that she hadn't felt before.

Which was better? Lust, or want? Yearning or craving? The words were so similar, yet the feelings were completely different.

Caroline shook her head. Why was she even considering Klaus? He wasn't an option. If anything, with any luck, he'd be dead tonight. She felt more than a twinge of guilt and sorrow at this. She tried to string it off as merely human conscience and the loss of male attention, but deep down she knew. She was beginning to lie to herself. And it was only so long before she snapped.


	10. Bar Night Betrayal - Outro

Caroline had returned home, waiting for some word on how the plan had gone. She paced alone, happy for once that her mom had taken longer shifts at the station. She'd be safe there.

Finally, her cell rang. Bonnie's number flashed on the screen.

"Care!"

"Bon, what happened?"

"Way too much, oh god." Bonnie had never sounded so distressed. She was the level one in the group. It scared Caroline to hear her so frightened, and she panicked.

"What's wrong? What can I do?"

"Can we come over to yours? Its just closer, I don't think we'll be able to make it back, and…" Bonnie's shaky voice was replaced by Stefan's authoritative tones.

"Caroline, Bonnie and her mom will be over soon, I'll help them get there. We'll explain as soon as we see you."

"Stefan, you tell me what happened right now." Caroline growled into the phone. She hated feeling so isolated and helpless. She heard him sigh, a long, drawn out sound transformed into a rush of static over the phone.

"Abigail's in transition." He said, and hung up.

Caroline remained frozen. Abigail was about to become a vampire. Bonnie's mom. Oh god. Sorrow rose quickly in her soul, and she dropped the phone to go outside to see if they were close. She had only just opened the front door when a blur shot through and crashed into her painfully, knocking her back against the wall.

Klaus.

Of course.

"Can I help you?" She asked dryly, knowing that it probably wasn't the wisest choice to aggravate an already furious Original, especially the Original Hybrid, especially the Original Hybrid they had tried to kill, especially the Original Hybrid they had tried to kill with her help, and especially the Original Hybrid they had tried to kill with her help as she distracted him by using her charm and exploiting his feelings. But screw all that, he was still being a jerk right now. And jerks didn't get her nice behaviour.

"I think you know why I'm here, sweetheart." He growled softly, and his words frightened her more than his actions. The way he spoke so calmly, rather than yelling and roaring, and that pet name…She couldn't hold back the shudder that rippled through her, and he seemed pleased by her fear, so she fought to retain her ferociousness.

"Enlighten me."

He scowled. Back to square one.

"You tried to kill me."

"And what, you have never done the same to me? To my friends?" She stared at him, disbelieving. "Come on. What did you think? Of course my friends were trying to kill you, they've been planning it over and over and over. And what did you expect? That you could just settle down here for the next few hundred years and keep draining my friend of blood and hang out at the Grill for a few drinks with the boys?"

Klaus' face fell for a moment before it twisted.

"I could just kill you now, just to prove a point."

Caroline felt a feeling like pins in her stomach, but she refused to let it show. "Go on, then."

He looked into her eyes, realizing that she was willing to go that far just to prove his inhumanity to himself, and he backed away. He couldn't bring himself to kill her, though he had killed countless others before. The very thought put a dark feeling in his chest, somewhere his heart was meant to sit. But as he had been told many times, he didn't have one.

Klaus changed the game, holding her wrists behind her back rather than crushing her against the wall.

"You know I don't have to kill you to get my revenge." He mused aloud. He wanted her fear, she so rarely showed it, and he did like a challenge. He wasn't done punishing her for her manipulation, especially after he had opened up his chest to her.

"I could be kind, and stab you a few times with a stake, just flesh wounds." He countered his words by grazing his thumb lazily along her bare arm, eliciting goosebumps. "Or I could tear off your limbs, or tear out your lungs. Or I could simply bite you and watch you crawl for my forgiveness."

His words and shockingly gentle actions sent fear gathering nervously in her stomach, but she still refused to acknowledge it.

Klaus let his anger flood him, let eyes turn yellow and his fangs lengthen as he drew nearer to her neck. Caroline didn't even struggle against him, and he retracted his fangs with a sigh.

"I knew you wouldn't." She remarked, and his eyes flashed up to hers, the blue still rimmed with gold.

"I've ended lives for far less than what you did sweetheart."

"Then why didn't you end mine?"

"Because it is still useful to me. Once it isn't, don't think for a second that I wont kill you."

Caroline cocked her head slightly, a small smile on her face despite his words. She gazed into his eyes, reading him easily.

"You're lying. The truth is that you don't know why you're keeping me alive. And that scares the hell out of you."

Klaus clenched his jaw, before ducking his head down to her neck and biting with blunt teeth, not enough to break the skin, but enough to frighten her. He didn't miss the way she gasped and arched her back slightly, pushing herself further into his arms. He felt triumph at her nearly succumbing in his powerful grasp.

And then he felt mind numbing pain in a flash. He let go of Caroline, and she shot out from under his grasp to join a new figure standing in the open doorway. Bonnie.

"Leave, Klaus." Bonnie commanded, channeling the power of her ancestors as his witchy migraine increased. He growled. He could easily have just fought it and stayed, but he knew that skulking around here was not the best option. And he had got part of what he came for. Not an apology, for that would be far too unlike Caroline, but her own reasoning. And he had a small reaction from her. He could settle for now, while his rage still hummed through him. He sent one last look to Caroline who knew that this thing between them was far from over, before flashing out the door.

Stefan stood on the porch carrying Abby's lifeless, undead form.

"What just happened?"

"Klaus tried to punish me for my part in the plot tonight. He takes vengeance to a whole new level."

"Did he bite you?"

"No, but he was about to." She lied, not wanting to honestly admit that he had bit her in a more intimate sense and that she had enjoyed it. Tyler had been gone for a while, vampires get horny, that's all. That's all.

"Thanks, Bonnie." She said to her friend, concentrating on more pressing matters. "Are you okay?"

Bonnie looked drained of emotion. "I'll be fine."

Caroline looked at her, and Bonnie gave a strained smile, and she knew what she had to do. Caroline wrapped her arms around her and let her relax into her comforting hug with a shaky sigh.

"It'll be okay." She reassured, trying to sound assured. "Come on, Abby can lie down in my room till she wakes up."

Stefan carried her to Caroline's room, where Bonnie immediately sat beside her mom, watching her face intently. Stefan told Caroline about the full events of the night, and she felt true fear for the first time in the night. She knew this war was just beginning.


	11. Tyler's Return

Care, I think you'll wanna get to school soon…Bekah's taken over the decade dance and I don't think you'll like her plan. –M

.

'Bekah'? As in, Rebekah? What's she doing now? –C

.

Changed the theme to The Roaring 20s –M

.

I can't believe it! I've been working on the 70s theme for months! –C

.

Actually, this might work. Can you play along with me? Someone's back in town and I need more time. –C

.

What do I need to do? –M

.

Caroline walked into the cafeteria to find everyone setting up with Rebekah's new props for the dance. She wondered how long the blonde Original had been planning her little take over. Much as she wanted to be enraged, she did have to commend Rebekah on her taste. Already the tacky school building looked a lot more sophisticated. She shook her head, remembering that she couldn't get out of this unless she at least seemed put out.

Caroline spotted Matt and strode over, ready to improvise a little fight. She hoped he could hold his own…from her memory of drama classes with him in middle school, she remembered he was always terrible at improv.

"What is this?" She asked, gesturing to the champagne pyramid and the feathers.

"It's the decade dance. Remember, you made us sign up to help?" Matt shot back blankly, and she noticed the dig he had put in there about her. It helped her, though, giving her a little more frustration to work off.

"No, this." Caroline pulled the boa from the box to illustrate her point. "The 20s. We're doing the 70s."

Matt raised his eyebrows, nodding slightly behind her to inform her of Rebekah's arrival.

"Too flashy, people. It's meant to be a speakeasy, not the World Fair." Rebekah drawled behind her, and Caroline glanced over slightly, momentarily worried about the fellow blonde seeing right through her, but she put that aside along with the boa, and turned to face her rival.

Rebekah had curled her hair slightly, and along with her confident sway, it reminded Caroline of…herself. She supposed it could be taken as flattery, or even yet another sign that in another time and place, she and Rebekah could have easily been friends, soul sisters even, but right now, she had to concentrate on the fact that this girl was trying to take her place.

"Ah, good, you're here. I need help setting up the tables, so, get to it."

She certainly made it easier to dislike her by bossing Caroline around. No way. Caroline was in charge. Always. She did not fight her way through high school just for this girl to think she was ordering her to do anything.

"What do you think you're doing?" Caroline said in her attempt at a level voice.

"Somebody has to be in charge." Rebekah snipped back.

"Yeah, me." Caroline nearly growled. "I'm the chair of the Dance Committee. The theme of the dance is the 1970s."

"So you'd rather dress in tacky colours with bad hair than be a classic flapper from the jazz age?"

Caroline scoffed. She was totally missing the point of the Decade Dance: to have fun and be silly with their friends. The Prom was the time to be classy.

"Honestly, I don't know what my brother sees in you." Rebekah hit below the belt with that one. Much as Caroline wouldn't show it, she did at least like Klaus' attention, it was flattering.

Caroline clenched her jaw, and stepped closer. "Well maybe he sees a challenge. See, unlike some other people, I don't sleep with everyone I make eye contact with."

Rebekah's famous icy glare came out, and the two blondes locked eyes for a duel.

"Maybe we can do both decades." Matt, ever the mediator, suggested helpfully.

"No!" The pair said in unison.

"Go on, Matt, don't be a coward." Rebekah pouted sweetly. "You know you loved my 20s idea when I presented it to the group."

Caroline looked at Matt, who had the decency to look slightly sheepish at the fact that he fallen willingly for the she-devils charms against his friend.

"Traitor!"

"Bell bottoms and disco? I don't know, this just seemed cooler."

Caroline was well aware of the fact that Matt had actually gone out to buy a hilarious afro wig only a week ago, so she felt a little more relieved that his verbal lying and acting skills had improved.

"See, its just cooler." Rebekah sneered, and Caroline rolled her eyes, realizing it was her chance for a grand exit.

"Whatever, have fun at your stupid dance." She snapped, storming out.

Rebekah smiled sweetly at Matt, and he sighed.

"I'll go make sure she's okay. I'm sure she'll love the idea."

"Do we really need her approval?"

"She's the head honcho around here, we kinda do." Matt put his hand on her forearm as she tried to walk off. "And she's my friend. So I'm always going to want to make sure she's okay."

Rebekah looked up at him, and nodded sadly. "I understand." She tried to leave again, but he kept his gentle hold on her arm. Though she could have broken away from it easily, she stayed, and looked back at him to see a small smile on his face.

"I noticed you didn't drive here…do you want a lift back?"

She lowered her voice "Remember, vampire, it takes about a minute for me to run here from – " She saw the look he was giving her again, and she bit her lip. "Thank you, I'd like a lift back."

He smiled his sunny smile. "Good. Now I'm going to check that Caroline's fine."

"All right. Want to help me with the tables when you get back?"

Matt appreciated the fact that she was asking rather than ordering. "Sure thing."

He ran through the halls to catch Caroline before she left.

"Caroline! Wait!" He watched as she slowed down, waiting to see if she thought it was far enough for them to not be overheard with supernatural hearing.

She spun with a grin on her face. "Impressive. You sold it."

"And you bought yourself a day."

"Thank you." She said gratefully. Both she and Matt knew that she had to talk to Tyler and figure things out, for better or worse, she wasn't certain yet. She shook her curls out, and opened the door to her car. "Just keep her occupied. And be careful." She said, knowing full well Matt would gladly spend time with Rebekah so long as it was only Rebekah and none of her other brothers.

"You too." He said, wondering for a fleeting moment if Klaus would hunt her down and confront her today, especially with Tyler in the mix. "And, uh…tell him I said hi, okay?" He may not really like the guy at the moment, but he was his friend, he had grown up with him, and Matt missed Tyler.

Caroline paused, almost seeing the thoughts running through his head. It reminded her about how hard this meeting was going to be if things had really changed. Going to see him was mainly out of missing him, but also her way of proving nothing had changed since he had been gone.

She nodded to Matt, before hopping into her car and pulling away.

Caroline trekked up to the Lockwood cellar that Tyler had said they'd meet by. She spun around, wondering why he wasn't there, and momentarily panicking when her mind flew to Klaus and his vengeful ways. Had he found out? A branch cracked nearby, and she whipped around again, eyes searching in the trees before realizing just how pointless that was with pretty much half the people she met with regularly being some form of supernatural being. She focused on her own heightened senses in return, ears pricking, inhaling to catch a scent on the wind.

Wolf. Even with Tyler's normal scent accompanying it, there was still that base smell of wolf. She smiled as it washed over her; it reminded her of her normal life in Mystic Falls.

Caroline spun around and she finally saw him. Tyler, in all of his lovely hometown boy-man glory, practically glowing. And yet something was missing. The little flame that shot up in her chest, it was like it was on a dimmer. It was still there, warming up her chest, but it was nowhere near the reaction she had expected. It disappointed her, and she couldn't hide the bittersweet sadness in her voice as she greeted him.

"Hi,"

His face was so blank, she felt a jolt of fear in her stomach, till he finally cracked a small smile.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you."

There was the compliment she needed from him. There was the longing, the craving she needed. She beamed, and kissed him, knowing that the answer for both of their cravings was always that.

She pushed and pulled with him, tugging him down to the cellar, eager to fix everything. That little thought itself should have been a big enough indicator. But she still continued, shedding clothes and pulling him towards her, her desire for him growing and blossoming from her chest outwards.

Despite his stamina and skill, it was over in a flash from Caroline's point of view, and she was left feeling as if her cravings hadn't been satisfied. She was happy, so very happy, but it felt like there was a part of her that was incomplete, and unsatisfied. That realization scared her so much that she pushed it aside, drawing circles on Tyler's chest. She should consider herself lucky. She was lucky. She was so lucky.

"Did I mention I miss you? Bad?" Tylers voice cut across her thoughts, and she giggled happy for the distraction from her wonderful friend, her boyfriend? Why is that a question? She let it slide, dropping kisses along the plane of his chest.

"At some point we're going to do this in an actual bed, right?" She said, half joking, half hoping. She didn't like having sex in dark, dank cellars, and they'd had a few quickies here and there…but aside from their first time together, they had been interrupted every time they had both lain down together in a bed.

"Yes, I promise." He laughed, smoothing a hand down her back before sighing. "Once I figure out how to deal with Klaus." She frowned: why was he bringing that stupidly sexy jerk into their lovely moment right now?

"Tell him to suck it." She said fiercely. "You broke his sire bond. You won't have to deal with him anymore." She traced circles on his chest, feeling more and more content. They were free now. Free.

"It's easier said than done." He said, reminding her of the torture he had put himself through in the mountains for both of them. "Besides, I wont know if its broken for sure till I test it."

Caroline sat up so she could see his face. "Wait, I thought that was why you were coming back. Because you said you felt different." She frowned. Was he feeling different because of his sire bond, or because of his own bond with her? Was this his way of saying he didn't believe in them anymore?

"I do feel different. I feel freer. Way more myself." Caroline was struck by the selfish tone in his voice, and it reminded her of the spoilt little boy he had been. She felt much less enamored. She had never thought highly of him growing up. It was only when she had become closer after he had began to change, after his werewolf gene had been triggered, that she had started to remotely like him.

"All I know is that I just turned about a hundred times in the Appalachian Mountains. If I can get through that, I can get through anything."

Yes, cocky, satisfied Tyler was back. But that was also a fighting Tyler. And right now, that's what they needed.

"Good. Because Klaus might not be our only problem."

"Why? What else did I miss?" Tyler sat up beside her.

Caroline sighed, biting her lip, uncertain as to how to break the news to him. "Matt killed an Original, and then every vampire that the Original had ever turned…mysteriously died." She saw his calculating look. "Right now, Damon is desperate to figure out which Original created our vampire bloodline, and if he finds out it wasn't Klaus…they're all gonna kill him." She felt that same growing fear. She didn't want to lose Tyler.

"But Klaus turned me. So if he dies, I die." The words brought her so much pain. Just saying the facts out loud made it all the more real.

"I know that. They know that. The difference is, Damon doesn't care." She gritted, really not appreciating the new lows that the elder Salvatore had sunk to.

Tyler exhaled, falling back onto the blanket.

"He's just a dick. Don't worry, we're going to find a way around this." She assured him, and when his mood didn't shift (and she was not surprised, in fact, she was completely understanding), Caroline decided to turn to another distraction.

"I've missed you, so much." She sighed, kissing him, pressing back into his chest. His arms immediately curled around her, and he kissed her back, a kiss tinged with love. She sunk into the kiss, wanting to lose herself completely, to help him and help herself.

Once back home, Caroline pulled the spare blankets and pillow from the cupboard and walked over towards Tyler as he sat on her bed. Her mom had been fine with him staying over, no extra questions, and she had assumed that she meant for him to stay on the couch. And she'd feel more comfortable that way. After all of that stuff with Klaus, and that intimate moment with him giving back her life on her birthday in her room, she just knew that she would feel weird with Tyler sleeping on that same bed with her. She still needed a little time to put those memories behind her.

"My mom said you could stay as long as you want." She smiled sweetly at him as he stood from her bed.

"Did she say we could share the bed?" He asked with his usual cheeky manner. Caroline's heart didn't race at that, and she focused on how to carefully deny him what he wanted.

"No. She said you could sleep on the couch. At least until we figure out what Damon and Stefan find out about Klaus."

"And if Klaus didn't create their line, and they try to kill him?"

She flinched at that, and drew closer. "Tyler, I just got you back." She pulled him in for a kiss to quell her growing fear of losing him. "I'm not losing you again." She searched his eyes, hoping she was convincing enough for him. He smiled at her, and she walked away to set up the couch.

"Klaus drew this for you?"

Caroline's stomach dropped. How did he find that? "Huh?" She called, buying time as she tossed a blanket onto the couch.

"That's…pretty creepy." Tyler said, and she walked over, feeling protective now of the beautiful drawing, the most romantic thing she'd ever been given. So what if she didn't feel it for him, it was still something from such a fairytale-like scenario that she had to keep it.

"Yeah, Klaus is pretty creepy." Caroline smiled slightly, recalling their encounters in reverse, outside the Grill, the bar, the ball, the night he saved her. He had this way of making her feel safe and his words soothed her. And then he would suddenly shift from seductive and charming to scary, or worse, sexy scary. "Even when he's trying to be charming."

Tyler looked at her incredulously. "Charming?"

She bit the inside of her cheek.

"Does Klaus have a thing for you or something?"

"No!" She denied flatly, trying to convince herself just as much as him. She had to convince herself that he felt nothing for her just as much as she wasn't feeling maybe just possible feelings for him. She felt so sure sometimes that she hated him, and then he would pop up in her head and she'd let the pleasant thought stay rather than banish it. "As far as I'm concerned, he isn't capable of real feelings."

"I'm serious. What the hell happened while I was gone?"

You changed, you ran away from me to change yourself, and I started to be courted old-romantic-style by a guy I should stay far away from. Caroline thought.

"Tyler. Nothing." She said, and for once, it was true. Nothing had happened in the way it usually would have. Klaus hadn't kissed her (technically) or slept with her. "Nothing happened."

"Then why'd you keep this?"

"I don't know!" She answered truthfully. The look in his eyes told her that was the wrong answer.

His fingers crinkled around the edges of the parchment, and Caroline felt a jolt of fear that he would destroy the beautiful artwork. It trumped her feeling of fear that he would be angry, and the care that she found for the small drawing frightened her.

"I think I'm gonna find someplace else to spend the night." He said, placing the paper in her hands before heading straight for the door.

"Tyler," Caroline said, a laugh behind her voice, hoping they could just ignore it and stay together. He didn't turn around. He was leaving her again. "Tyler!"

The door slammed.

Caroline looked down at the picture, studying the careful lines that created her on the page, and wondered if it was worth it. She needed to check. She walked instinctively towards the front door, wondering if she should try to even catch Tyler. The drawing in her hand seemed to taunt her with every move. She stopped to scowl at it.

How had it even been on her bedside table? Caroline had kept it hidden from Bonnie when she brought her mother here after the 'lets kill the Originals in a freaky ritual' night, and she hadn't been back long enough to bring it out of the draw it had sat in along with the bracelet box.

Caroline walked back to her bedroom and found the box sitting on her quilt, exactly the same as the night of the ball. She froze, her eyes searching for Klaus, but everything else was in place. Warily, Caroline edged forward and sat on her bed beside the little velvet box. She frowned. He kept trying to buy her off. He was creepy.

"It's not going to open by itself, Caroline." His musical voice rang out, and she looked up to find Klaus standing by the window.

She masked her shock quickly and folded her arms. "Who says I'm going to open it?"

Klaus smirked. "You will. But if you really want me to present it to you – "

"I'm good." She interrupted.

"I know." He said.

She scowled at him. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Klaus busied himself by strolling around her room, running a finger along the spines of her books in the bookcase. "Well, you left town pretty quickly after…everything, and when you came back I had a little business trip, so I figured you'd miss me."

"Well you're mistaken. I haven't missed your infuriating presence."

Klaus frowned slightly but continued. "Infuriating? Careful, love. That's a small step to actually caring, and we all know where that leads."

She gritted her teeth, breathing deeply. "What do you want? As I recall, you weren't too pleased the last time we saw each other. In fact, I believe you tried to kill me in return."

Klaus' eyes flashed a warning, but he scoffed. "Oh, that was merely punishment, sweetheart. But I did want to make amends. We both did some things, we had another larger spat, and this is my way around that."

"I told you I cant be bought. She snipped, and narrowed her eyes as he laughed.

"I did take the memo. Why don't you check before you make assumptions?"

Caroline stared at the box, taking her sweet time to decide if it was trustworthy, and also wanting to piss Klaus off. But he had 1000 years of patience on her, and she caved, opening the box.

It was still a bracelet, but far simpler. It was a circle of thin black leather similar to his necklaces. On the strap was one ornamentation: a glass bead. But the bead itself was beautiful, its base appearing to be blue, but changing color depending on how the light caught it. It was a simple enchanting something she would have worn if she had found it first. Klaus seemed to have a knack for that.

"Do you like it?" His voice was closer now, and softer.

Caroline nodded before she could think, and she looked up at him dubiously. "This isn't a trick, right? You didn't steal this or pay a million bucks for it?"

He let loose a chuckle before shaking his head. "No. I made it."

"You made it? How?"

"I was around in a time where we made the houses we lived in and built the chairs we sat on. A little glassblowing was simply an acquired skill. That one on the band is one of my favorites."

Caroline gazed at it, admiring its simple beauty and the light that seemed to radiate from it. She gently nudged it with the tip of her finger to make the colors dance.

"Why give it to me, then?" She asked quickly.

"Beautiful things deserve beautiful things." He responded, before adding softly. "It made me think of you."

She couldn't return it to him after that. The diamond bracelet had been perfect, but too much. This had emotion behind it. Emotion that she had desperately convinced herself that Klaus was unable to experience.

"I need a moment." She blurted, and he nodded as she strode from the room. Caroline busied herself putting away the pillows, remembering why Tyler wasn't here. Tyler had left. Tyler had found the drawing. Did Klaus plant it there? Did Klaus know about the sirebond and Tyler's efforts? She steeled her resolve again, walking back to the room.

Klaus was back by the bookshelf, eyeing the Stephenie Meyer books with humored concern.

"I can see you need to read some of the classics of a few eras ago rather than the 'classics' from today." He said with a smirk.

She reverted back to fighter Caroline. "Why was my drawing on my bedside table?"

Klaus frowned. "You mean my drawing?"

She flustered, not realizing she had staked a claim on his gift already.

"Whatever. Why was it there?"

"I don't know, love. Unlike what you think, I don't actually stalk you. This is just a very small one-pony town."

Caroline gritted her teeth. "Don't insult my hometown. And we both know I didn't put it there."

Klaus face grew cold again. "And what if I did? I think you aren't being truthful about more. Tyler, for example?"

"Don't bring him into this."

"He's my hybrid, before being your boyfriend."

"He was with me long before you came to plague Mystic Falls."

"But now he's under my command. It doesn't matter if he feels puppy love, Caroline, he can't put you first. But I can, and I do. Come away with me. Rome, Paris, Tokyo, Stockholm, Madrid. Anywhere."

All the amazing cities were so deliciously foreign to Caroline, and she was tempted, but speechless. Instead, she just frowned and folded her arms.

"You seriously think that you can just charm you way into my life when you have a terrifying hold over the people I love?"

Klaus clenched his jaw slightly at the thought of Caroline being in love with that puppy-boy Tyler, but he forced a smirk in place. "Yes, I do."

Caroline made a disgusted noise, and stalked towards the front door. Klaus couldn't help himself; he just had to follow her. She wrenched it open and stared at him.

"Leave. In case you haven't noticed, you're not welcome here."

"And what if I don't care?"

She glared at him. "Then you have absolutely no hope of ever winning me over. And you'll ruin the very slight impression you're making on me."

He couldn't tell if she was being honest or lying to get rid of him quicker. But his pause was enough to set her temper again.

"God! Do you always have to control everything?"

He chuckled at her outburst and smiled sweetly as she glowered at him.

"Don't you know me by now, love?"

"No. I will never know you."

He tilted his head, watching her, listening to her elevated heartbeat and quick breaths.

"Fine. I'll leave you in peace for now, then." He approached her slowly, walking up to stand an inch away from her, giving her time to move if she so wished. Caroline didn't budge, watching him come closer and trying to keep her glare in place. He gazed down at her through his lashes, and heard her heartbeat falter.

"I'm never going to go anywhere with you." She whispered, watching his mouth, not trusting herself to look into his eyes in case she got lost in their ocean blue depths.

He shot her a hurt look, still looking at her through half closed eyes that conveyed so much more than normal.

They stood there sharing air for several moments, and finally Klaus opened his mouth to speak.

"Maybe. In the meantime, though," He murmured, touching her wrist with a light caress on her pulse point. She swore that simple touch ignited her skin in waves. "Sweet dreams, Caroline." He breathed the words like a prayer, and was gone before she could draw more than a shaky breath.

Caroline frowned, closing the door with a slam to vent out some frustration. She miscalculated the force, and the house shook slightly at her strength. She let out a groan at the sheer pent up frustration from her night. She flailed her arms slightly to let out some energy as she stomped back to her room to collapse on the bed in peace, and noticed a new foreign movement on her wrist. She looked down to find his stupid beautiful gift on her stupid wrist. Of course. That jerk. Caroline held it up, letting the light shine through it, and sighed. It was very natural compared to her previous gift, and with the light turning it a pure blue at that angle, it matched her lapis lazuli ring. She bet that he had known it would match. He just managed to find those details in her life, and that should have scared her more than it flattered her.

He always had to be a dominating alpha male. She probably just liked the challenge because being with Tyler had turned them into more compliant people. She probably just needed a good argument. That was why she felt alive whenever they fought, whenever they talked. Most likely. She hoped.


	12. The Decade Dance

Elena beeped in her car outside Caroline's house, and she swiped mascara along her lashes one last time before grabbing her bag and clipboard and shutting the door.

"Thanks again for the lift. I'm in enough of a rage as it is without having to worry about running people over." Caroline hugged the brunette quickly across the gear shift before settling in the passenger seat.

Elena smiled, but it was forced. "Why? Rebekah still giving you a hard time?"

"Worse. I got some weird call from her this morning telling me that she was 'sick' and couldn't show." Caroline frowned, her voice rising. "Vampires don't get sick! If she's planning some stupid thing to ruin the dance, I am going to kill her."

Elena had enough humor left to let out a small chuckle at her friends words, and she pulled out of the driveway and began to drive towards the school.

"She wont do something like that. If anything, she's even more obsessed about this than you are. That Original family sure know how to get what they want."

Caroline recoiled a little and tugged down her sleeve, remembering the night before and very aware of the bracelet that was still around her wrist. She hadn't had the heart to remove it.  
Elena noticed. "Everything okay?"

Caroline nodded. "Fine. Its good." She noticed Elena's guilty look, and turned the attention on her. "Why, is everything okay with you?"

Elena risked a glance from the road to the blonde, and then back.

"I made out with Damon in a motel in Denver."

To her credit, Caroline was in enough control for her only reaction to be a slightly open mouth and wide eyes. But Elena noticed everything.

"I know what you're going to say. But I don't even know what I can say about it."

Caroline exhaled, smiling slightly with understanding. "Talk me through it."

"I don't really know how it happened. One moment we were in the room and the next we were on the balcony kissing. No, wait." Elena nodded in remembrance. "He did something incredibly sweet for Rose when she was dying. And I asked why he couldn't let everyone see the good in him. But he said he didn't want people to think of him that way. He said…" She frowned. "He said that when people see good, they expect good." She glanced over to Caroline to see what she thought of this, and saw the recognition in her friend's eyes. But it was gone before she could question it.

"And then you made out?"

"Caroline!" She exclaimed, but Caroline merely lifted her eyebrows. Elena sighed. "Yes. And then Jeremy walked out and caught us."

Caroline let loose her gasp now. "Nooooo."

"Yeah."

"Smooth."

"Thanks, Care. It's not like I was experiencing it or anything."

Caroline squeezed her hand gently as they pulled into a space in the school car park.

"It'll pass. If you want it to." Caroline seriously hoped that she didn't. Damon was just bad news according to her. Yet at the same time, she could see serious similarities between her and Elena's situations, and she wondered if it was hypocritical. But then she realized that she could only be hypocritical if she felt something, and she felt nothing. She. Felt. Nothing. She felt nothing, goddamnit!

"Care?" Elena's worried voice brought her back with a jolt. They were walking along the pavement to the front doors.

"Sorry. Zoned out. What were you saying?"

Elena gave her friend a concerned look that blended into compassion. "I know, you're stressed over the dance. Don't worry, its going to be epic, even with the new decade theme. You do things on a whole other level and it just makes things…magical."

Caroline gave her friend a bear hug. "Thanks, Elena. You have no idea how much I needed that."

"Anytime." She said with a smile, before sighing. "It's the least I can do right now. I feel a bit useless."

"Well you're here to help now." Caroline teased. "Is it Jeremy, or someone else?"

"Alaric." Elena sighed again. "He spoke to Damon this morning. He keeps blacking out, so he's going to try to get away from Mystic Falls to keep us safe."

"Caroline! Thank god, Rebekah's not shown up, we just started but we don't know where to go from here." A red head from their Chem class bounded up to Caroline and she busied herself for a moment, getting into her organizing head space. She handed the girl one of the sheets from her board.

"Check that everything here is done, and if it isn't, then get to it. Then get back to me. I'll be in the gym."

The girl nodded with a pearly smile, and was gone just as quickly as she came. Caroline heaved a breath and turned back to Elena, motioning for them to walk into the gym.

"So Alaric is trying to pull himself together. Why is that a bad thing?"

"I just…" Elena watched the flurry of students setting up the gym around her. "I wish there was something I could do." She wanted to help her guardian. She couldn't keep losing everyone. Especially the people who helped her the most.

Elena screwed up her face, trying to distract herself by diving into extra curricular activities like she used to.

"Where do you want me to hang this thing?"

Caroline eyed the bulky chandelier that the brunette had hefted. It looked like it would be more at home in some gothic vampire mansion. Perhaps that was why she had brought it. But then that bitch should have shown up, rather than dump her with all of this stress that she had created with her stupid 20s idea that Caroline should have thought up herself!

"You know what? If Rebekah wanted to hang this monstrosity, she should have shown up to do it herself." She spun and handed the wire mess to a girl floating around nearby. "Just…no!"

Caroline looked up to find Jeremy and Matt tying stars. It just looked all wrong, and she couldn't hold back her annoyance.

"What are you doing? You can't just hang them! They're supposed to trickle down!"

Elena shot her a look, fighting back a smile, and Caroline inhaled and exhaled peacefully through her nose. Too much stress today, too much stress last night. She just had to take a few breaths and focus on the sweeter things.

"Look at them, all bromancy." She smiled, as Matt and Jeremy continued to try to 'trickle' the stars, non-fussed about her screeching at them.

"Yeah, I asked Matt to help Jeremy readjust. He got him his old job back at the grill."

Alarm bells went off in Caroline's head. Any boy who had a history of feelings towards Elena shouldn't get involved right now. She was trying hard enough in her matchmaking services to get her with Stefan, it didn't help if Matt was going off course too. And she had thought that he had his attentions still focused on a certain Original Blonde…?

"Well that was nice of him." She said warily, watching Elena carefully.

Elena kept herself busy, feeling Caroline's gaze and watching her hands movements till she could tell her friend had reverted back to watching the boys set up.

"Jeremy has a lot on his mind the whole thing with Alaric has got him really stressed out."

"You sure it has nothing to do with witnessing you and Damon getting hot and heavy in a skeevy motel?" She shot, seeing her chance to bring Elena back to her current triangular dilemma.

It worked. Elena glared at her with a hint of playfulness. "I didn't tell you that so you could torture me with it."

"Aww, what are friends for?" She laughed, holding folded tablecloths and picking invisible dust off them. "So, who are you bringing to the dance?" She fished.

Elena picked up a long black boa and wrapped it around her neck. "What do you mean? I thought you, Bonnie and I were going as – " She shot Caroline her famous doe-eyed gaze, complete with eyelash flutter. "-girl dates."

Caroline chuckled, and grinned. "Hmm, Bonnie has a date."

"What?"

"Jamie called and wanted to see her, so she asked him."

"Hmm."

They smiled at their simple gossip, reminiscent of girl nights before all the monsters came to town. Caroline didn't want to ruin the moment, but she had to take the chance to put in a good Stefan word.

"So…here's a thought." She started as if the idea had just occurred to her. "Why don't you ask Stefan?"

"I cant ask him on a date! I just…made out…with his brother." Elena flustered, giving Caroline a sign that perhaps…just maybe…she was more into Stefan.

"All the more reason." She said. "Look, you're supposed to be figuring out what you want, that's what Stefan wanted you to do, right?"

"Yeah, but – "

"But nothing! I've watched The Bachelor! Fair is fair! It is Stefan's turn!" Caroline's stress for everything showed, and she took a deep breath.

"Yeah, and you're not biased or anything." Elena scoffed.

"I'm sorry. But Stefan is your epic love." Caroline noted the recognition in Elenas eyes, and it made her resolve come back. "And I'm not going down without a fight."

Finally everything was ready.

Finally she was ready.

Let the Decade Dance begin.

Caroline surveyed the party with a feeling of pride, success and smugness. She'd been getting praise and compliments all night for the set up, for everything, and she felt like she was right back in her element. Rebekah wasn't here to steal the limelight either, so she was able to sit right back down on her queen bee throne that she had fought so hard to get to. No threats tonight. Everything was perfect.

"Have I told you how amazingly awesome you are?" She gushed to Matt, and he turned from where he had been helping restock the punch bowl.

"Yeah, I'm one of the good ones, I know." He joked, and looked at her with suspicion, knowing how bossy and stressed she'd been all day. "Why the compliments, what else do you want?"

Caroline sighed. "I know that you and Elena have been getting closer lately…" She trailed off.

"And your point is?"

"One way or the other…she's pretty much spoken for." She finished, watching for his reaction, wondering how he would take it.

"Elena's my friend, Caroline. I'm just looking out for her." He kept looking at her like she was being jealous, and she started to get worked up, trying to prove that she was just looking out for them all and that she wanted her matchmaking plans to work.

"And I'm just looking out for you. Because sometimes the people who love her get caught in the crossfire."

She watched his face as he took in her words. Then his eyes settled on a spot somewhere above and past her shoulder.

"What's he doing here?"

Caroline whirled around, almost expecting Klaus. He did have a knack for showing up at their events and ruining the night.

It was Tyler. That was worse in a sense. She left Matt with only one backwards glance, marching over to Tyler.

He watched her with eyes that she couldn't read.

"Are you crazy? If Klaus sees you – "

"What's he gonna do, draw you another picture?"

Ah, the fire was back. But much as she enjoyed it, his life was worth more.

"Tyler, this isn't a joke!"

"I can pretend I'm sired if I have to. But I'm not gonna hide while he's macking all over you!"

The words stirred memories and Caroline shoved them down. "Tyler. You do not need to be jealous of Klaus."

"I am jealous." He said, and she knew that there must have been more going between her and Klaus than she let herself realize, if Tyler found it enough to get worked up over.

"But I'm also competitive." He said, a sly grin sliding into place. "So hang on, I'm about to sweep you off your feet."

Before she could protest that they would make a spectacle that she really wouldn't mind too much, Tyler had her in his arms , spinning her around.

The thrill was back too. She had missed Tyler trying for her affections, and she liked it. Perhaps all wasn't lost after all.

He set her back down and smiled as she laughed, carefree and lovely. They joined in with the old style dancing around them, happy to let everything go for the night.

Tyler danced her round in small circles, and Caroline allowed herself to get lost in the moment. Just for now, everything was perfect. Tyler was back, and she felt at home, comfortable again.

He suddenly glanced sharply to his right, and she struggled to come out of her happy bubble.

"What is it?" She asked in a heavy, warm voice, before glancing over.

Her bubble burst.

Klaus was standing there.

She blinked, stunned. His eyes caught hers, and it felt like she was alone with him in the room, just the two of them…and then his gaze flicked back to Tyler and he grew harsh again.

"Where've you been, mate?"

"I just got back in town." Tyler's strong, opposing voice rang out beside her, and she remembered what side she stood on. She leaned against him, placing her hands in a claiming way upon his left shoulder, to give him strength as well as her.

"That's funny, I don't recall giving you permission to leave in the first place." Klaus' knowing tone gave Caroline chills, and she couldn't help but glance at Tyler warningly, pressing her fingers gently into his shoulder for emphasis.

Klaus stepped forward to meet them. "You don't mind if I cut in, do you?"

"Yes, actually, we do." Caroline bristled at his rude, dominating behavior. Really? It would have been less obvious if they had simply both peed on her like animals. She thought, eyeing the way both men tried to claim her. Who'd have thought she'd be fought over in the first place? That was Elena's job.

Klaus looked to Tyler, knowing that if all was well, his hybrid wouldn't refuse him. Tyler turned to Caroline slowly.

"No. Its fine." His dislike was printed all over his face, and Caroline felt for a wild second that she would have preferred he defied the side bond right now, just to get that territorial look off both of their faces. Yet Tyler backed away without a word.

"Why do you always have to prove you're the alpha male?" Caroline gritted.

Klaus took pleasure from her rage. "I don't have to prove anything, love. I am the alpha male."

She scoffed, yet he noted that she did not completely deny his position, and he felt pleased in his state of dominance.

"Come on, one dance?" He held out his hand to her, a permanent smirk etched onto his face. "I won't bite." He shot, knowing just how it would wound both Caroline and Tyler.

She glanced back to Tyler, and knew that she could have easily said no to Klaus herself. She wasn't sire bound. And yet there was a bond of sorts. She felt herself pulled to him. Caroline met his eyes again and felt the irony of the 1920's song lyrics as the words echoed in her head.

'He'll look at me and smile, I'll understand, And in a little while, He'll take my hand, And though it seems absurd, I know we both won't say a word.'

Caroline placed her hand in his, thankful for the glove protecting her from his pure touch, and Klaus drew her away from Tyler, his eyes locked on hers. He spun her elegantly and drew her into an embrace closer than she was expecting. Their faces were mere inches apart, their bodies brushing with every sway, his hand flat on the small of her back. Clearly he was in his element, and in an era of different dancing, and back to his old cocky, seductively evil self. Caroline found herself missing the more honorable character from before.

"You would have loved the 1920's, Caroline." Klaus said conversationally in her ear. "Girls were reckless, sexy, fun." He murmured, eyeing her devilish red dress and how it contrasted with his graceful and misleadingly angelic white tux.

Her sour expression stayed in place, and he felt the need to shift her mood, to stop her looking at Tyler while he in turn glared at Klaus.

"They literally used to dance till they dropped." He chuckled, spinning them abruptly, trying to shock her.

She refused to respond to his sudden good humor, preferring to respond to his wit with her own cutting words. "I don't suppose that ever happened to their dance partners." She remarked dryly.

She got what she wanted: his mood shifted abruptly.

"You should be nicer to me. I'm leaving town tomorrow." He said.

Caroline had refused to look at him the whole time, close as he was, but his words made her eyes flash to his face. He read disbelief, but there was more in her eyes. She was…hurt.

"I'd invite you to join me, but we both know you're not ready to accept my offer." He continued, recalling their conversation and her utterly point blank statement that she wouldn't take his offer. "Perhaps one day, in a year, or even a century, you'll turn up at my door, and let me show you what the world has to offer." What I have to offer. He added in his mind, gazing down into her eyes.

Caroline had looked at Tyler during his statement, knowing that regardless of his sweet promises to put her first, he had never put a time on their relationship. And here was Klaus saying that it didn't matter if she didn't feel as strongly as he did for her, he would wait lifetimes to have one moment of her time.

Caroline looked up at him, wondering if she should believe him for one second. He gazed back with honesty, but there was something so predatorily about his eyes that she began to doubt his true feelings. And she needed to go back out of there fast before her heart was on that table.

She scoffed, wanting to wound, and she succeeded. She broke a little as she saw the pain in his eyes. Klaus looked down, needing to break away from her cruel, beautiful eyes, and stepped away slightly. Caroline hated how vulnerable she had made him with that one sound, and how boyish and injured he looked. Worse, like an injured puppy.

But he soon returned full force, eyes blazing. "You mark my words. Small town boy, small town life, it wont be enough for you." He threw her own phrase back at her.

He gazed at her for one more moment, searching her face, before he brushed past her harshly. She was left breathless, like he had just stolen her lungs. He managed to make her feel guilty, hurt her and get under her skin, all within three minutes. She hated him.

Tyler's hand found hers, and she kept herself together just so he wouldn't see how affected she was.

"He's gone, Care." Tyler soothed, and she smiled, all teeth and fake joy, hoping he wouldn't notice.

"Good riddance." She said cheerfully, wrapping her arms around him.

"Not quite." Matt interrupted, and they turned to look at him as he came close so they wouldn't be overheard. "Esther has Elena and she's got some sort of boundary around the school. Bonnie's trying to find a loophole in the History classroom."

"What can we do?" Caroline asked.

Matt shrugged. "I don't know. I'm on my way there now."

"Lets go." Tyler started walking with Matt, and Caroline was pulled slightly with him since her arms were around him. She dug her heels slightly.

"No!"

The two boys stopped and looked at her curiously.

Caroline bit her lip. "Klaus will be there too, he's just as trapped as we are. We should stay away from him, Tyler. Because of the sirebond."

Tyler frowned at her, but nodded. "Good idea. We'll see you later, all right Matt?" He looked over to his friend for the reassurance that they would actually see him later that night, and he smiled back grimly.

"Take care. If you stay here it should be fine."

Matt left them for the classroom, and Tyler turned back to Caroline.

"What was that about? Is it because of something Klaus said to you earlier?"

Caroline didn't answer. In truth, she knew that if she saw Klaus again tonight, she would be very tempted to apologize for her behavior and beg him to take her anywhere but Mystic Falls. Seeing him hurt had done things to her. But she didn't want to feel like that. She just wanted to hate him for what he had done to turn her world upside down, and she found herself liking that instead.

"Care?" Tyler held both of her hands, grounding her once more, and she shook her head.

"Its just cause I don't want to be near him again tonight. He gives me the shakes." Caroline said truthfully. She just hoped he would never that the shakes weren't from fear, per se, but from something else.

She exhaled, and stepped closer to him, meeting his gaze. "Can we just…just enjoy the rest of tonight together?"

Tyler nodded, and she kissed him, letting herself be soothed by his comforting presence that reminded her of home, reminded her of her self.

He pulled away to gaze at her, before tugging her into another slow dance.

Their peers left the dance in small groups as the night grew late, many congratulating Caroline on her efforts. She accepted the compliments with a smile, not letting them see her worry. When Tyler got into a conversation with his football teammates about where he had been and how everything was going sport wise, Caroline took the chance to have a moment to herself and left, telling him it was to powder her nose. He let her go without too much of a backward glance.

Caroline strode out of the gym and sighed as she walked down the halls, slowing her step. She found herself wandering aimlessly around the school, taking care not to get too close to the room where Bonnie was working with the others. Of course, she didn't take into account that Klaus had feet that could easily take him to her, and she suddenly found herself walking next to the man she had been trying to avoid.

She didn't pay him any attention aside from her quickened breaths, and they walked down a corridor in silence before she acknowledged him.

"Haven't I made myself clear?"

"Crystal, love. I just don't give up."

"Well you really need to."

This time it wasn't should, it was need to.

"I'm taking my last few moments. I don't know where I'll find a creature as delicious as you for the next millennium."

His words finally made her look at him, and she found him looking right back at her, like he had been watching him the whole time. Rather than find it creepy, like she had countless times before, she liked his focus on her. It made her feel like she was the only one that mattered, and even if it wasn't true, she still liked to believe it, just for a moment.

"You're really leaving?"

He chuckled darkly. "Of course I am. Why else would I say it?"

"I don't know, to lie to me and Tyler? To make us feel at ease?"

He held her gaze as his turned bittersweet and soft. "I couldn't fight forever, little one. One can only be rejected so many times in a month." His mouth curved upwards slightly. "But there's always another month, another year, another decade."

"You'll seriously be trying for that long?"

He looked incredulous. "For much longer than that. Why wouldn't I be?"

Caroline didn't know how to respond to that. How was she supposed to? She just kept walking till they came to a dead end and she had to stop.

"You could be taking a huge risk by thinking I could ever give in to you."

Klaus just smiled. "If you haven't noticed, sweetheart, I'm a bit of a gambler."

She rolled her eyes. He grew serious. "I would wait, Caroline. You're worth that and more. Don't mistake my leaving for me giving up on you, or for running away."

Caroline felt his reference to what Tyler had done, and she felt defensive, but let it slide.

"How can you have so much faith when I haven't given you anything to hope for?"

He smirked now, and several memories of her own actions that would have easily given him hope flashed across her mind. He clearly was thinking of the same instances. But instead he focused on a more recent sign.

"Why is your glove puckering around your wrist?"

Caroline instantly covered it.

"It looks like it's a fairly distinctive shape. A bracelet, perhaps? A thin one, with some sort of round ornament. Now I wonder where you could have got that?"

She scowled at him, and he let loose a genuine smile.

"I have every reason to have faith, love. I just have to wait till you realize that."

He strolled back up the way they had come. She stood still for a moment before following him quickly, not wanting him to have the last word.

"So that's it? No aggressive show of your power?" She scoffed. "Boy, I got away easy. I was almost expecting more."

She got the reaction she had unconsciously been fishing for. He immediately had her backed up against the lockers, body to body.

"This enough for you, then?"

She only smiled up at him, defiant and yet sweet, and he let his own face soften into one in return.

Caroline still hadn't gotten over what had happened in her kitchen, when she had nearly kissed him and had been brushed off. She stared at his mouth like when they had been dancing, finding herself drawn again. She blamed that incredible scent of his: forests after an electric storm. Her eyes wanted to close so she could savor it, but she fought to keep them open so she could watch his parted lips, so close, so close.

His lips moved into a lopsided smirk, and he chuckled. Her heavy eyes lifted to his, which had darkened to the color of a turbulent ocean. And then his face was looming closer, and she closed her eyes, her head lifted expectantly. His lips brushed just under the left side of her jawline, burning her, branding her.

"Till we meet again, Caroline."

She had arrived back in the gym to find that everyone had finally left. She was glad. She felt shaken. Caroline walked slowly along the wooden floor, rubbing at that one spot near her neck. Branded. And she had liked it. She had wanted it. She encouraged it.

"Care?" Tylers voice rang out, and she whirled to find him on the bleachers.

"Hey," She smiled falsely, and walked over to him.

"Where'd you go?" He asked without suspicion.

"Just took a bit of a walk. I needed some air. Tonight's been…a bit crazy." She said with a half-laugh.

"Good. I thought you'd been taken…or something."

She knew who he meant. "No chance. He's a creep, but he's a bit distracted trying to find his way out of here."

Tyler growled, a pure animalistic sound, and rubbed his face with his hands. "I hate this. I want him to die, so badly, but if he dies, I die. And I have absolutely no idea of how we can solve this."

"Its okay, we're going to solve this and be free," Caroline came closer to comfort him, drawing nearer to the bottom of the bleachers, but his face fell as she neared and his nose screwed up slightly. Caroline frowned. "What?"

"You smell like him."

Caroline stiffened, and she hoped he would take it as disgust rather than fear. She'd rather not tell him about anything between her and Klaus, and she certainly wanted to forget their walk in the corridors.

"It's probably from when I danced with him. Remind me not to ever do that again."

He let out one laugh at her poor attempt of a joke, and shook his head. "You're most likely right. I just don't think I noticed it before. Probably cause everyone else was there."

Caroline nodded, but Tyler still had a look of uncertainty etched on his face as Stefan entered the gym and strode towards them.

"Did you find out where they are?" Caroline asked immediately.

"They're at the old cemetery. Jeremy and Matt are headed there right now."

"You let them go?" Caroline's voice rose. "They're gonna get themselves killed!"

"I didn't have a choice, Caroline!" Stefan shot right back at her. "We're useless right now stuck in here." He paced away, something she was used to in his brooding periods, and she let her anger fade away. Stefan was just trying to get to Elena. He wasn't thinking about who would be hurt in the process. Love was like that, and Caroline was only just beginning to realize the full power of it from two very different people.

"Hey, she'll be fine." Caroline comforted him, her words bringing him back. "Elena always manages to find her way through this stuff."

"Yeah, well, I'm just as worried about what Esther is up to." He reminded her of yet another reason to be worried. "She lead Klaus here for a reason. If she succeeds in whatever she's doing –"

"-Klaus could get killed." Tyler called from his spot above them. The tone in his voice made them both turn to watch him warily. "And I die along with him."

"No one's going to die, okay? Bonnie's still looking for a way around the boundary spell. Its not too late." Stefan said with more than an ounce of hope in his voice, before walking away to check on Bonnie's progress.

Caroline was too busy watching Tyler. His face was set. He had a plan. And something about his demeanor told her that she would not agree with it.

She turned to watch Stefan leave, all the while thinking of what she could possibly do to make this whole situation better. She turned back with a slight smile on her face.

"So, best case scenario: Bonnie gets us out of here," She climbed up the bleacher towards him, painting the scene of their happiest possible future from here. "Klaus hauls ass to Timbuktu, and you and I," She stopped in front of him, hope dawning on her face. "We're home free."

Her hopes for changing his mood were short lived.

"Or we let Esther come and kill him." Tyler said slowly. His brooding look told her that it was a situation he had had to come to terms with for some good reason. She couldn't imagine why.  
"That's not a best case scenario. That's not even a remotely acceptable scenario!" She couldn't imagine a world without Tyler. Sweet, lovely, loving Tyler. Her boy, Tyler. No one would get the chance to take him from her again. And Klaus…she couldn't imagine the rest of the world without him. He needed to be there. It was like balance. The world wouldn't be right without him.

"It would be an option if we knew he wasn't the one who turned your bloodline."

Caroline shook her head, wondering where on earth he was going with this crazy plan.

"You'd be safe." Tyler looked up at her with wide convincing eyes. "At least he'd be gone." The bitterness was beginning to seep back into his voice, and her frown deepened.

"How could you say that?"

"Because I'm angry! Because I hate him! I should have never let him dance with you!"

"What were you supposed to do? He can't know that you're not sired anymore!" But Caroline understood now. Jealousy and anger. In some twisted way, it was his one final sweet gesture: in Klaus' death, she'd be free. And he was willing to sacrifice that with his life.

"Tyler, it doesn't matter how many times I dance with him." She soothed, coming to sit beside him, warmth in every footstep, feeling like she was coming home. "I love you." She admitted softly. The words had never felt as right to her as they did now.

He gazed into her eyes, and started to look away with a small smile, but she wasn't ready for their connection to end. She caught his cheek, and kissed him. It felt like she was sealing her fate, and for once, she was happy with that.


	13. Challenges and Charades

"What do you mean you're ditching my clean up committee?" Caroline asked, her voice rising. It felt like she had just got Tyler back and yet he was distant again. Even after everything the night before, even after she had said the words she thought he had wanted to hear, he hadn't stayed over, and hadn't called her when he'd got home like he said he would, and hadn't come by for breakfast. She'd had enough of distance. Distance changed things. She wanted warm, familiar Tyler.

"Klaus called." Tylers voice came through crackly on the phone. "He's leaving town and wants me to pack up his house."

It really hadn't been an empty threat. Klaus was truly leaving Mystic Falls.

"Well when does sire bond equal mover slave?"

"Since he realized you're not going to dump me for him." Tylers voice was smug, but it reminded Caroline of her choice. She had chosen Tyler –

"Urgh, he's being petty." She realized aloud, amazed that Klaus would really run when he said that he wouldn't, when he told her that he wouldn't. And that mattered more to her than she had understood before.

"And he still thinks I'm sired to him. Its fine, I'll keep up the act and it will be all over soon."

She breathed a sigh of relief and uncertainty.

"I'm late, I gotta go. I love you."

"I love you too." She echoed like the nymph from greek mythology, but she wasn't certain if Tyler heard her before the dial tone blared.

Another sound caught her attention and she whirled.

"Hello?"

No sound greeted her other than her breathing. She shook her head at her own jitters. She was going crazy.

Caroline walked back to find Rebekah with a bin and no one else.

"Where's Matt?"

"He bailed. Got called into work at the last minute."

"Are you kidding me?" Caroline walked in and realized the full extent of the situation. "So its just us?"

"Yes, and you're late." Rebekah snapped. "Clean up committee started at eight o'clock."

Caroline checked her phone with a frown. "It's, like, 8:02."

"Exactly. I managed to turn up on time and I didn't even get to attend the dance that I organised." Rebekah got straight down to the problem, which made it easier on Caroline. It was something she didn't mind about the blonde. She supposed not going to a high school for decades would have made her blunt, which was for the best considering her brothers and their tempers. Not to mention her parents. Caroline could certainly relate a little there.

"I'm sorry about your mom." She said sincerely, and fended off the glare that Rebekah sent her for her sympathy. "I mean, I know you, like, hated her and everything, but still. I'm sorry."

She couldn't tell if she had struck a chord with Rebekah till she set down the bin and looked her in the eye.

"I'm sorry about your teacher. He seemed like a nice guy."

"Yeah. He was."

They shared an almost smile, but Rebekah became uncomfortable.

"I'm gonna get started on the gym." She said, to avoid the comradeship she was developing with Caroline. They had to maintain the bitch-factor, or else they might actually start to nor mind each other.

Caroline let her go, but startled when she heard a gravelly male voice echo through the halls. She raced out to see what was going on.

Alaric. Alaric was going to kill Rebekah. Alaric was going to hurt the Blonde Original.

No way.

With force that even she was surprised at, Caroline smashed into her former friend and teacher, pinning him to a locker. Rebekah worked in sync with her, stabbing Alaric with the stake before she had time to comprehend it.

But something was wrong.

Alaric groaned as he wrapped his hand around the stake, pulling it out slowly. He wasn't dying again, he was dead and yet he still moved, and yet he wasn't dying as he should have been. He was very much alive. Deadly alive.

Caroline shared a moment of panic with Rebekah before they sprinted. They raced out the doors, separating to make it harder for them to get out alive and avoid being caught by the new vampire hunter.

Run? Or car? Caroline debated for a second too long before choosing and puling out her keys. At least she'd have a layer of metal between her and the threat.

She glanced up, and dropped her keys in fear. Alaric's burning face, reflected in the car door, menacing and fierce. She felt a flash of pain as her neck snapped, and then nothing.

Nothing.

At least for a moment.

When she woke, it was to absolute pain as pencils were pushed violently through her hands. She screamed before she had a chance to control herself and bite it back. A large hand slapped across her face in retaliation, making her gasp back any spare noise that could have escaped her.

"Quiet. No need to scream yet." Alaric's voice had changed completely into a cold-blooded killer's.

Caroline blinked, waiting to wake up from the nightmare, waiting for Alaric to laugh or Damon to pop out and say it was a very cruel joke and she could yell at him for a few hours for scaring the hell out of her. But nothing happened.

"Why?" She choked out, and Alaric's icy, dark eyes zeroed in on her.

"Because you deserve this." He hissed, before carefully placing a gag around her mouth that burned like fire, like the sun itself on her skin. It was worse than the burning on her birthday, it was worse because there wasn't even a moment with Klaus, there was just raw pain. She let tears slip down her face, but clenched her jaw to ensure that no sound would escape her. She would hold it together. She was stronger than this. She had endured worse. She was strong. She was full of light.

As more time passed, and the vervain infiltrated her system, slowly burning her from the inside out, her eyes glazed over and she lost control over her cries of pain. She felt Elena's presence there, but she couldn't be certain it was real. It all became very real when her best friend stood before her with a stake in hand. Elena looked at her with wide eyes, and Caroline closed her eyes, not knowing a way they could get out of this mess this time.

Suddenly, Elena swung the stake at Alaric, but he caught her arm easily.

"I thought I taught you better than that." He sneered.

"You did." Elena muttered, her hand curling around the glass of vervain and slaming it into his face. He cried out, and Caroline watched as Elena gritted her teeth and pulled the pencils from her friend's hands. She pulled Caroline up from the chair and half pushed her towards the door.

"Get help." Elena ordered, running behind her.

Caroline sprinted, driven with fear. But then Elena wasn't there. She stopped, looking around, and then she was trapped again.

Caroline gasped against the strong hand at her mouth, tugging at the one gripped tightly around her waist.

"Its okay, its okay," A hushed voice, softer than his actions, murmured in her ear.

Klaus.

She looked back to see his face an inch from hers, and it calmed her.

"Its me, its okay, you're safe."

The words should have sounded absurd coming from the Big Bad, and they would when she reflected on them later, but in that moment, she believed in them so strongly.

She glanced up at his eyes, and they locked for a second before he glanced down the hall, her eyes following his.

"We'll save Elena. You go straight home. You stay inside. Do you understand?" His voice had turned harsh in that order, and she was stunned that he was being the good guy, saving them. 'Save' wasn't a word in his vocabulary.

Her silence forced a reaction from him, and he spun her abruptly to face him.

"Do you understand me?" He asked horsely.

She looked up at him, so uncertain of what was happening, what she was comprehending, what she was feeling.

"Thank you." She managed to say, trying to express everything in those two words.

His face softened out of its warrior mask for a moment as he watched her, and she felt he knew more than she did what she was trying to say. Then he was gone, and she could do nothing but stare after him.

She started to run in the opposite direction and stopped. No. No, everyone always ran. She wasn't done yet, though.

She sprinted after Klaus, crashing into him this time.

He turned, eyes flashing, but realized it was Caroline and steadied her with his hands. He glanced down the corridor and moved them out of the open hallway to the shelter of a doorway.

"What are you doing?" He said in hushed, fierce tones, brow furrowing.

"I'm going to help."

"No. You are getting home safely. Right now."

"No chance! I'm not leaving her." Caroline hissed.

They stared each other down, inches apart. Caroline narrowed her eyes slightly and placed her hands on either side of his face, leaning in to catch her lips with his. But Klaus pulled back slightly before she could do more than barely brush his mouth. It infuriated her, since she felt like she should thank him, and she had felt that urge before, and she should get to choose the way, so why not the way that was practically begging to be taken? It felt right. But it felt wrong.

Klaus studied her face, coming to his own conclusion of what her plans were. "If you thought that was going to distract me, you're wrong." He growled, before clasping her hands and looking her dead in the eye, hating what he was about to do.

"You will go home and make sure you remain safe till this is over."

Caroline recognised compulsion when she saw it, but knew that the vervain still burning through her veins should overcome it. And yet there was this sheer will to do as he said that stemmed from somewhere behind his eyes, compelling her in the most human way to do as he said because of his determination to keep her from danger. She nodded, and he took the opportunity to brush a kiss across her smooth cheek, right next to those burns, before he sped away to stop Alaric. Who knew when he'd have the chance to be that close to Caroline again.

Caroline had made it home, but she was restless. She had been through way too much for her to handle today. Saving Rebekah out of protection for the Original rather than the idea of her being the creator of her bloodline. Being tortured by Alaric, the man who had been her friend and teacher. Being saved by Klaus, the Original bad guy. That moment with Klaus. What if she had kissed him? She knew she would have liked it.

But she was with Tyler.

Guilt churned in her stomach, and she paced in the hall. Maybe she shouldn't ignore it this time. But did that make it something to worry about?

Her phone disrupted her self-reproach, and she whipped it up to her ear, eager to hear if they had stopped Alaric, if Elena was safe, if the Salvatore's were safe…if their odd new partner in crime was safe.

"Hello?"

"Care! Thank god you're all right. How's Elena?" Bonnie's voice rushed through the receiver in an anxious breath.

Caroline sighed. "I don't know. Alaric had her the last I knew."

"What? Where are you?"

"At home. Klaus kinda forced me to stay here."

"Klaus?"

"Yeah. He's actually the one that saved me." Caroline bit her lip. "Look, I know you guys are all on the 'lets kill Klaus warpath' and I totally understand that, but – "

"We did it."

Caroline's heart stopped. "What?"

"We killed Klaus. Well, sort of."

"Sort of?"

"That dessication spell my mothe – Abbey – used on Mikael, we tried to use it on Alaric today but he was too strong. But then Elena found out that Alaric's life is linked to hers, so if she dies, so does he. So Klaus took Elena and started draining her blood. Stefan linked me to Klaus to dessicate him instead so he'd stop killing her. His heart stopped, but he's still alive. Barely." Bonnie sounded hopeful, and Caroline had to remind herself that this was what her friends had been wishing for.

"Sorry, Care. What were you saying?" Bonnie asked, misunderstanding her friends silence.

Caroline swallowed what she was going to say: that she had a plan to 'distract' Klaus by leaving with him as she had started to want to, so Klaus wouldn't be alone and Elena would be safe and they all would be free in some sense. All that didn't matter now, though. She was free. So why did she feel so caged?

"Nothing. That's perfect! We should celebrate." Her words sounded false to her, but Bonnie couldn't tell over the phone.

"You sure? Alaric's still out there…I feel like maybe we didn't get the right danger. We're going to have to do this all over again with Alaric."

"But we got what we wanted, right? Klaus is dead. Its what we wanted. We need a bit of a celebration."

"You're right. Lets head over to Elena's. I thought she might have been with you, but she must be getting home then."

"Kay. See you soon." She said with cheer, before hanging up and racing to the bathroom. She waited for it to happen, for her to throw up all the guilt and misery mixing in her gut, but it didn't. It wouldn't anyway. She was a vampire now. That couldn't happen. She wished it could, though.

Instead, she just sobbed dryly, which turned into tears streaming down her face. The two emotions got mixed up till she couldn't remember what had started the tears in the first place. Was it because she had felt confused about Klaus and Tyler? Or because the man who had saved her life twice was gone and she hadn't paid him back? Or because she had felt something for Klaus and now he was gone? She knew it was the latter, and that made the tears flow even faster.

Caroline found the strength to compose herself and repair her make up before sprinting over to Elena's.

Tyler and Matt were already there – Bonnie must have texted them.

"Care!" Matt greeted, and Tyler came over to kiss her. She shifted her head so he got her cheek. She didn't think she could handle him pressing his lips to hers right now. Not after the very fresh memory of that almost kiss only hours before.

Caroline shot a look to Tyler to insinuate her not being comfortable with PDA's while Matt was there, and he nodded in acceptance.

"What happened?" She asked, and Tyler told her about him defying Klaus, going into detail about Klaus' heart slowing down. The lead ball in her gut continued to grow, but she kept her smiles close at hand, hugging him and saying how happy she was.

"Tequila, I think." Matt announced, and they set up the glasses.

Bonnie and Jeremy arrived with food, and pretty soon they were all chattering about past parties and wild times. The mood rose, and Caroline tried to be pulled along with it, but her heart felt heavy. Elena arrived with the Salvatore's, and Caroline overheard the conversation about her 'selfishness'. While she thought that Elena was the least selfish person in regards to everything except for boys who took an interest to her, she understood why her friend couldn't choose. Losing one of them would be hard for her too. But she'd had that choice made for her.

Or had she? She could play along with the charade, and then start off after Damon and Stefan. They said they were headed towards the Atlantic, she could find them…find Klaus…She just needed to pay him back for saving her twice. Then maybe her guilt would fade slightly. Feeling lighter after this idea, she greeted Elena with cheer.


	14. One Last Stand

"Caroline, Elena's in the hospital with a concussion. Meredith helped her and she's going to be fine, but we need to get her away from the hospital so none of the Original pack can get to her. Can you and Tyler help me get her home?"

"Of course, Matt. We're on our way."

...

"Easy does it." Caroline helped Elena out of the car with the help of Tyler while Matt went to open the door with the spare key.

"I've said I'm fine, like, a million times, Care. I can walk by myself." Elena gave Tyler a look, and he backed off slightly.

"Good luck trying to convince her, 'Lena. She's stubborn as hell."

"And you know you like it." The blonde snipped back, far too stressed out for now to care if it seemed too rude to say to her boyfriend…her friend, more than anything. "As for you, missy, you're sitting that butt straight down on the couch."

"Do I have to?" Elena whinged, leaning on Caroline as they walked through the door.

"Yes. Couch."

"I'm fine." Elena repeated wearily. "I just...I want something to eat first."

"We're on it." Tyler assured her, glancing towards Matt. "As soon as we make sure no one is lurking in the closets."

"Alright, couch. Now." Caroline said bluntly as the boys walked off in separate directions.

"I've told you I'm fine!" Elena exclaimed, not bothering to fight off Caroline physically since they both knew it would be pointless.

"Doctor says rest, you rest." Caroline recited as she grabbed a throw off the other couch and followed her friend, prepared to tuck her in like the kids she used to babysit if it came down to it.

Elena sat down with a sigh and let Caroline flit around her.

"Now what can I get you? Some tea? Maybe some…vodka?"

Now it was Elena's turn to look disapprovingly at her friend.

"Both will help you sleep." Caroline pointed out, trying to make her laugh a little. It didn't work, and the mood was still very somber. She sat down by Elena's legs with a sigh. "I know. I'm being smothering. Its what I do."

Elena shook her head slightly, reaching out to grab Caroline's hand. She knew why she was being so caring, 'mothering' as Elena called it, 'smothering' as Caroline called it. It was what she did in affection, it was part of who she was. It was always evident when she was avoiding something in her own life, and though she wanted to ask what was wrong and help her friend, she knew Care would tell her in her own time.

"No, it's nice."

Caroline smiled a little before she turned playful. "I'm thinking…maybe tea with vodka." The joke finally worked, and both girls shared a giggle before Caroline was gone off on her care path again.

When she returned, Elena had her gaze locked on the photo sitting on the end table. Caroline looked at it, recognizing Elena's parents immediately, their smiles so bright and true.

"Penny for your thoughts?" She asked her friend, not wanting her to sink into a further state of sadness.

"Nothing, really. Just reminiscing a little." Elena sighed. "I keep wondering what life would be like now, if they were still here. If anyone would be safer." She gave a half-hearted laugh. "But its not like they were superhuman. Your parents make you feel safer than you really are, because you trust them. Yet even with them here, I'd still be the doppelganger, Klaus would have still come after me, and Damon and Stefan would've still been here."

"Hey," Caroline soothed, rubbing circles on Elena's hand. "You're okay now. And Klaus is gone. And we're all going to be safe. You'll see."

Elena heard the sadness behind Caroline's words, and tilted her head, her thoughtfulness and caring coming out strong.

"What's up, Care?"

"Hmm? Nothing. Its all fine."

Elena gave Caroline the I've-known-you-since-we-were-sandpit-buddies-I-know-when-something's-up look. Naturally, the blonde caved a little.

"Its Klaus. I probably just feel a little guilty. He did save me, even when he was the one to get me in that situation in the first place, and…" She didn't finish off with him saving her at the school, since from some perspectives it really couldn't be called saving since she was vaguely out of danger by then. Not to mention he had proceeded to try and kill her best friend immediately after that, and her attempt at kissing him probably hadn't helped. She was going to completely ignore that.

"I know the feeling." Elena murmured in agreeance, thinking of Elijah. It must have been something about the Originals. Particularly the fact that they had practically gone a thousand years without proper love and care.

"I just cant shake the feeling that things could have turned out better for everyone involved. I mean, Rebekah and Kol and Elijah and Klaus, they were all brought up without any caring. Maybe they need a little, maybe that would help them. Maybe they all need a bit of – " Caroline stopped herself there, she had been about to say the big four letter l-word, and she knew that once she said it, it would change everything.

Elena still understood her unspoken words.

A moment of pure silence passed between them, and then Elena spoke.

"You're right. They do need that. I just don't know how much it would take to help them, to change them. What if they aren't changeable?"

That was as close as Caroline would get to some form of acceptance from Elena, at least until she was comfortable to tell the brunette what she couldn't even tell herself.

Caroline sighed. "I was actually thinking of my own plan to stop Klaus before."

"What was it?"

"Maybe be a blonde distraction for a bit." She murmured, not wanting Tyler to hear even with floors and walls between them. "Just so we could keep you safe and maybe find a way around this whole bloodline thing."

"Would that even be safe for you?" Elena jumped straight to Caroline's safety, disregarding the thought that Elena herself would be safe.

"He's the biggest bad out there, even now. If I was on his good side, I'd be safe."

"You'd also be a target."

"He wouldn't let them hurt me."

Elena gave her friend a knowing look that Caroline chose to ignore.

"Here, drink up your tea. No vodka this time, sorry."

"Care,"

"I put some honey in it, just cause you're so sweet." Caroline said, remembering what her grandma used to say to her.

"Caroline," Elena waited till her friend was quiet, understanding how hard it would be for her to look her in the eye and talk about this, and accepting that Caroline merely locked her gaze on her hands. "You remember when I went through this with Matt. Back before all this started. You remember what you and Bonnie used to tell me?"

Caroline remembered. Even if she didn't, her damn vampire senses were able to recollect any hazy memories from her past. Elena was getting distant, she wasn't feeling her relationship with Matt anymore. It had nothing to do with either of them not liking the person any less, it was just that Elena wanted different things.

"You should tell him." Elena meant for Caroline to tell Tyler.

"I hadn't even figured out that far yet." Caroline said mutely. She'd been so busy denying everything that she hadn't sat down and thought out the fact that maybe sometimes some things just weren't meant to work out, that relationships could just end because they were different.

"Maybe I'm getting a little psychic." Elena said with a smile that triggered Caroline's, and they exhaled and hugged.

Caroline had not expected acceptance from anyone for her feeling even slightly conflicted about Klaus, so it was nice to know that Elena, with all her compassion and caring and understanding, could accept this. She'd been going through the same with both Salvatores, but it was more than that. She understood people on a whole other level to everyone else, and that meant that somehow, she understood some of Klaus' motives and what he might have needed. And somehow, that meant her. Caroline had more than enough caring to give, and maybe Klaus was the one person on this Earth that needed it the most.

Elena just knew that she needed some time to figure it out. Caroline was the only person she would make an exception for to bring Klaus back, because in that instance, she knew that Caroline would keep him away from Mystic Falls, and everyone would be safe. If it were anyone else, Elena wasn't sure that Klaus would be so accepting.

...

Caroline had agreed to run with Tyler. She had to keep him safe. But she had absolutely no idea how she could fit this new aspect into her plans. Because she was going to save Klaus. And she was not going to change that in any sense.

She just didn't know how yet.

She'd bought a little time at least. Playing up to Tyler while she made up her mind. But that little ploy was enough to tell her that in her mind, it was over, for she shouldn't have had to act or pretend anything.

She was helping out the gang on Operation:The Elijah Deal no# 39601. Waiting in the woods for a crazy-ex-history-teacher/ex-friend and ally turned ultimate vampire hunter was creepy to say the least. It was even more so with Elijah.

"I'm surprised to see you helping to kill your friend." He commented in that dry way of his as they sat on a bough of an oak tree, all the better for surveillance.

"He's not himself anymore." She replied, before being open in a request. "Please don't make this any harder than it has to be."

"Apologies." Elijah said like a gentleman.

"Thank you." Caroline sighed.

"I'm still surprised, though."

"About what?"

"That you would help get my brothers body back to us."

She looked at him sideways in the weak moonlight that filtered between the trees. He was watching her with a calculating look that reminded her slightly of Klaus.

"I'm an only child, so I don't know what its like to have siblings. But I do know what its like to be alone."

"Your two points being that you don't understand but you do respect the bond between my brothers and sister, and that you understand a part of what Niklaus is currently feeling?"

Caroline squirmed slightly at his insight, but she couldn't deny it, since she had just eluded to it herself. "Yes."

"Interesting." Elijah mused, and she scoffed.

"If I recall correctly, my brother was quite taken by you."

Caroline stayed silent, surveying the quiet forest around them.

"Almost infatuated, I would have guessed."

"Do you always interrogate the people you're on hide away stake out duty with?" She snapped, and he gave his characteristic Elijah-chuckle, waiting for her to comment on his own evaluations.

"Yes," She said, half a groan. "I suppose you could have guessed that."

"It does make me wonder whether he was encouraged by you in that fancy."

I fancy you echoed through her head, and she shook her blonde curls to make it disapperate from her thoughts.

"What do you mean?"

Elijah leaned against the trunk of the tree they were perched in, seeming completely out of character for the Original she had only ever seen in suits, but at the same time seeming to hint towards a life where he had been more relaxed, when he had been growing up in this very town a thousand years ago. "My brother…is a very complex man."

"No duh." Caroline scoffed, but let him continue after he shot her a look.

"In my opinion, he has had no emotions for centuries. He feeds, he runs, he hunts, he has…" Elijah winced. "many recreational hobbies. But he does not care. He has shut off that part of him. He has lived by a motto of not caring, not loving, not feeling, for centuries, because that was the simplest thing for him to do. He had to worry about his existence. And so now, with my father gone," – He seemed to pause for a moment, and Caroline swore he murmured under his breath "may he rest in peace finally" – "we can finally start to live our lives." Elijah's gaze bored into Caroline's very soul. "It would take a remarkable woman to break through that shell."

She ruined the moment by rolling her eyes. "That is assuming that he still possesses the capability for real feelings."

"I do not doubt your words." He accepted. "But Niklaus is known for being persistent only with things he truly considers worthy."

Caroline glanced at him sharply. Not only was Elijah stating her worth, he was also alluding to the fact that Caroline had given Klaus a chance of sorts. For why else would he have continued to pursue her unless he had been shown that he might have a reward for his efforts?

She was speechless, finally lost for words.

They sat in silence.

"About Klaus' body," Caroline began, but was cut off by a shrill ring from her phone.

"Stefan?"

"Slight change of plans. Alaric's figured out where Klaus really is. Time to regroup."

He hung up before she could say anything else, and she let out a sigh that bordered more on a growl.

"I swear, one of these days, the Salvatores are going to actually have a conversation with me that's going to last longer than a minute, and its going to be about something completely unrelated to vampires and werewolves and killing."

...

Caroline had to find him. She had to find Tyler.

He was the only one left, and now even he would be slipping away.

It was a selfish thought, but she had finally been put in the same scenario as Elena. She cared about both of them, and couldn't bear to lose either of them. And now she was going to lose both.

She sprinted to the Lockwood cellar, hoping to evade the tears she was starting to shed for Klaus at the same time as hoping that Tyler would be there, that she could say goodbye to him at least.

Caroline staggered down the steps and wheeled into the cellar.

"Tyler?!" She called between hiccupping sobs. She surveyed the room. Candles were lit, and everything seemed peaceful. But he wasn't there.

"Oh God…" She let the cries start to wrack through her body as she was filled with utter despair.

"Caroline?" His warm, familiar voice sounded behind her, and she gasped and turned.

"Tyler! Oh my God." Caroline launched herself at him, needing his strong supportive embrace.

"Hey, sorry, I was just with Bonnie." Tyler said in more of a relaxed tone than she expected considering she was practically wailing. "What happened?"

"Klaus died. He's dead." Caroline managed to squeak out, the words making it all the more real. The Original who had only finally succeeded in making her care for him was gone from this Earth, and the hometown boy who had been her first love was about to go too.

"You're going to be fine, Caroline." Tyler comforted in an almost eerily calm way. She had been expecting a little more care for himself at this point. Comforting her was way off the target.

"No, its not me that I'm worried about." She whimpered, clutching him.

"There's no point. I'm a lost cause." The words only brought back memories of the other hybrid and how Klaus had felt about himself, and she choked out more tears at how truly lost he was to her right then.

"But you're strong." Tyler continued. "And you have a beautiful future ahead of you."

She had no future now. She had no world without them.

"And when you make it through this, just tell my mother I left town like I was supposed to, okay?"

Caroline nodded, not really thinking about any plans after the next few moments. All she wanted was to not care about time. She had eternity to worry about it. She just kissed Tyler, just for one last kiss.

He clutched her like she was a diamond, something too precious to ignore but strong enough so he could hold her fiercely, just the way she wanted to be held. Tyler had never done that before, and she wished he hadn't waited till their last moments together to show that to her. She could get used to an eternity like this with him.

All of a sudden, he cried out against her, lurching away to cough and choke and pant.

"Do you feel anything?" He asked once his breath returned to him, concern for her wellbeing arising uncharacteristically in his own last moments.

"No," She whimpered. "I feel fine."

"I need you to get out of here. I don't want you to see me die."

Caroline had seen him change during his first full moon, had seen him go through the transition into being a hybrid. Long before werewolves and vampires and things that went bump in the night, she had been the one during a football game to help him when his shoulder was dislocated. She had been with him through many things, and not once had he ever expressed any wish for her to not help him through the pain.

"No, I'm not leaving." She cried, and he fell to the floor in pain once again. Caroline went to help him, dropping down beside him.

"I'm staying."

"No,"

"Yes!"

"You run. Or I'll make you run." He had never said anything like that before. Never. It was a line that belonged to someone else.

He was trying to be the hero.

Not this time.

"I'm not leaving you!"

Tyler looked at her resolutely, before he suddenly began to shift. Bones snapping, eyes glowing, animalistic growling all came at once, and Caroline backed up in fear.

"Go!" He snarled, and she sobbed, sprinting out the door.

She had lied too many times.


End file.
